Rua vs. Vera

This is the official discussion thread for Rua vs. Vera. Let's see what you've got.

damn @anik so far looks like we agree on alot of the fights as always haha

that's bad for you, my UFC cards are total ****.

@anik yep always i always do **** on ufc cards

Need I remind you of my **** 2 for 12 performance last month?  I have no idea how i'm on the leader board for the UFC comp.

Brandon Vera put on the best performance of his career. He has absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. I honestly think that the Brandon Vera that showed up tonight to fight Shogun could improve himself to one day making his goal of being simultaneous UFC LHW Champion and UFC Heavyweight Champion a reality. I was very impressed with Vera's improvement in all aspects of his game.

Shogun fought a great fight himself. He showed a ton of heart, and fought a very tough fighter who, I think, he probably underestimated. Through that all, and no matter where the fight took place, Shogun never quit, gave it everything he had, and got a very hard fought and impressive victory. The only problem with the Shogun that fought tonight, is that he still gasses. If this Shogun shows up to fight Jon Jones or Dan Henderson, he will get beaten badly.

* Edited at 08.04.2012, 11:10 PM ET *

@jaykool you had me going until the "simultaneous champ" thing... i think that ship has sailed.  but he put some new life into his career tonight.

@jaykool I agree on almost evrything except Vera havin 2 belts, I think he can be champion once Jones moves up, if he improves he could beat every one at 205, but he has no chance at HW, not with today's roaster

@ Gregory - That's the point I was trying to make. Back when Vera first said that when he came to the UFC, I thought it was ********, and I still think it's a pipe dream on Vera's part, but his figth tonight with Shogun really breathed new life into his career, and it had me thinking..........All Vera has to do is sew up a few holes in his game and his pipe dream could become a reality. Vera showed heart, athleticism, that he could hang on the feet with a deadly striker like Shogun, and that he's not an overrated, overhyped prospective fighter, but a legitamate opponent for anybody at any given point and time. If the Brandon Vera that showed up to fight tonight improves the holes in his game, and can come back from this loss better than this, then we could see him make a run at least at the UFC LHW Championship. Worst case scenario, Vera resurged his career tonight.

Vera showed some real heart. Shogun's assault would've downed most other fighters. Now if Vera can remember to shore up his wrestling, he can be a top 10 LHW and avoid near defeats to Eliot Marshall...

FOTY Nomination for sure

I suppose I'm in the minority, but that fight really did nothing for me as far as convincing me that either of the fighters will contend for much of anything in the future.  It was most definitely an entertaining fight..I will not dispute that.  However, I will say that Leonard Garcia versus Nam Phan fights are pretty entertaining too.......so entertainment on its own doesn't do much for future success.

Brandon Vera showed a tremendous amount of heart, but he always does.  The problem has never been his heart, it's been his head.  He really showed nothing in that fight different from previous fights.  He didn't finish a worn down opponent when he had the chance.  He had his opportunities, and he let them slip away, yet again. Plus, if he can't stop Shogun from taking him down, what will he do if he fights Phil Davis or Rashad Evans?  He is still entertaining, and I look forward to watching his fights.  He just won't be fighting for a belt anytime soon or probably ever. 

As for Shogun, that fight should not have lasted as long as it did if he was in the kind of shape or condition needed to contend for a title fight.  He's still a dangerous fighter, but he poses zero threat to Jon Jones. 

This fight revealed some things.  Vera showed up good to go, ready to fight.  Shogun looked like he under-trained for this fight.  He was gassing by the end of the second round.  And that tells me he took Vera for granted and didn't put in the intense training camp he should have.

So, an in shape Vera couldn't beat an under-prepared Shogun, which shows the difference in their status.  This fight shouldn't have been made.  And an exhausted Shogun took 4 rounds to finish a mid-tier fighter.  Vera hasn't been a true contender for several years, yet he was given Shogun right after Shogun gave an epic war contender fight!

What was Joe Silva thinking?  This fight most definitely does not prepare Shogun for Jon Jones.  It proved very little.  I expect to read that Brandon Vera will be receiving his exit papers soon.

And Dana White was very correct to give Lyoto Machida the next title shot.  Machida earned it, looked ready for another shot, and I look forward to see if he can do anything more with another opportunity.  Shogun did NOT help his cause last night.  Not at all.

@bill. i love your posts but vera is staying. dana white said on fox tv he was impressed by vera  and fought like a warrior. so did rogan.he will get a couple more chances. i thought he did well with his elbow strikes and leg kicks. a couple of those leg kicks were brutal. you could here them.

i didnt expect vera to look this good. shogun didnt look like he trained well enough for this. but vera sure shocked us all though. props to him. Vera will not get cut from this loss dana likes guys that put on wars that is what they gave the fans the fight did not disappoint one bit.

i might add i have no idea why i picked it by sub.

I'm glad Vera came out and performed.. even if he did lose.  

Well, Vera did surprise a lot of people, including me. But he still lost all 4 rounds against a gassed and obviouly not 100% fit Shogun. He also got KO'ed like expected. Hard to tell how much of it was Vera performing very well or Shogun performing very bad.

That said Vera didn't quit and took a huge amount of hard punches and fired back at Hua which made it an awesome fight to watch.

I think a fight between Vera vs Bader would be interesting now and might show were Vera really stands...

Vera did very well, he landed some shots standing, good fight. 

Good for Brandon.  I like the guy.  I'm glad he's going to be with us for a while.  I just hope they don't match him against a top contender again.  Match him with Bader and mid-tier but good fighters.  

Let him fight Thiago Silva again.  They are a good match.  Match-making is the most important thing in the world.

@Bill: The real reason behind the match making of those two fights wasn't because they were supposed to be great determinors of who was worthy enough to fight Jon Jones.  They were simply to put what would likely be exciting fights on Fox television.  The UFC is trying to suck in as many fans as it can with the Fox broadcasts, and to this point, the overall reviews haven't been as great as desired.  That card last night is exactly what the UFC wanted. It was exciting to all fans. Now we can all sit around and complain about how Dana's "selling out" to make money or whatnot, but the fact remains, it is a business.  The average, beer chugging 20 year old doesn't know much about the finer arts of grappling or point fighting.  They want to see knockouts and finishes.  I think the UFC is looking to draw as many of them in as they can, then try to keep them on once they learn to appreciate the rest  of the game.  Hence we see a fight between Shogun/Vera and Bader/Machida.