Dana White Confirms Shogun Rua vs. Brandon Vera Winner Gets Title Shot | UFC News
By Jamie McAllister
Dana White announced today during a media conference call that the winner of the UFC On FOX 4 main event will be the next man to challenge for the UFC Light-Heavyweight Title.
The bout will be contested between Shogun Rua and Brandon Vera. Shogun was defeated by Jones at UFC 128 and is coming off a loss to the current number one contender Dan Henderson White explained his decision.
“Shogun Rua just came off the fight of the year last year and he’s probably one of the greatest fighters in the world in the last decade. This guy knocked out Rampage (Jackson), knocked out Chuck Liddell, knocked out Mark Coleman, knocked out Lyoto Machida, knocked out Forrest Griffin, knocked out Alistair Overeem twice, submitted Kevin Randleman. A win puts this guy right back into position, and he’s probably the No. 2 guy in the world.”
Vera is currently (1-2-1) in his last four UFC bouts. Vera was cut from the UFC following his loss to Thiago Silva before it was changed to a no-contest due to Silva handing in a false urine sample and Vera was reinstated. On top of that Vera was dominated and finished in the first round by the current Light-Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones at UFC Live: Vera vs. Jones back in 2010.
“Brandon is a guy who burst onto the scene, was gonna be a 205-pound champion, a heavyweight champion, was running through guys left and right. I don’t know what happened, but it’s about opportunities,”
“He accepted this opportunity to fight one of the greatest fighters of this decade and we’ll see what he does with it.”
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Jamie McAllister
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This is a joke I mean Vera basically jumped line from edging out the fire Marshall – To overtaking guys like Rashad Lyoto Bader Davis Glover Gustaffsson Rampage ….. well basically everyone in the division !!!
Incredible joke…. Vera title shot???? But weidman doesn’t deserve one??!?! Tell me how that makes sense, atleast in weidmans division he is undefeated and makes statements
It’s Dana’s company. He makes the decisions (along with the Fertitas and Joe Silva). Go watch Strikeforce or cartoons if you gonna act like you dropped your lollipop on the ground, you whiners!
Shogun wins, fight Jones. Jones wins, Shogun back of the line. Shogun wins, rematch with Jones.
Truth wins, fight Jones. Jones wins, Truth does ????. Truth wins, rematch with Jones.
Big deal. lot of fights in the future. It’s his company. Don’t like it? go form your own company of whining babies!
I usually have no problem with ufc’s matchmaking but this is ridiculous. We complain because were the fans that pay the money to make Dana rich. They care what we think so its good people voice there opinions
Exactly right! This is rediculous!
The only contender he’s ever beaten is an out of form Frank Mir at heavyweight, back in 06…. Why oh why the **** does this guy get a shot if he beats Shogun? Shogun has been a champion and has fought and beaten the best many times… Vera hasn’t done enough and is a walk over for Jones!
At the end of the day will be an extreme underdog in this fight (and rightly so) but to even be told he gets a shot with a win over Shogun undermines the whole ladder of the division… He’s not even top 10!!!
WOW.. These two bums got murdered vs Jones.. **** NO.. Winner out of these two fight the winner out of Machida and bader for the title shot..
Machida has a better shot then all these fools to beat Jones. Straight bs.
Wow talk about feeding Jones bums..
**** Dana for this BS
Shogun Rua a bum? Lol I’m not even going to say anything apart from you’re retarded.
This is his ticket fight
1-win = fast track ticket to the title
2- lose= fast track out of town(UFC)
How did Vera get anywhere in the top 5? Did I miss something?
Dude…. Vera has 1 win in his last 4 fights, a decision over Elliot Marshall.
So he is somewhere around 2-3 P4P and a dominant force at LHW.
He’s gonna hold the LHW and HW belts simultaneously.
uhh how? dude has been on an alternating win & lose streak for like the past 5 years…
sarcasm brother.
nah dude, I was being totally serious
P4P top 5
#1 Anderson Silva
#2 Brandon Vera
#3 Jon Jones
#4 Jose Aldo
#5 The Guy with the mexican wrestling mask that got ktfo by CroCop
yeah, but 5 years is still a pretty impressive streak in MMA
I’m stunned TBH just shows how paper thin LHW is
This has to be ajoke Vera isn’t even top 20
wow.. if vera beats shogun he gets bones next? crazy!
wow…what an opportunity for Vera to get back into the mix. I don’t think a win puts him next in line for a title shot, I mean Jones already smashed his face in (literally) and he hasn’t done much else in the past few years. imo he’s even lucky to be fighting Shogun at this point.
yea man jones smashed his fkn face in… brutally..
I honestly don’t see them giving Vera a title shot if he wins. I’m pretty sure they’re expecting shogun to win that’s why he said this. But if Vera does win I see them giving him at LEAST 1 more fight before a title shot and the at that VERY least lol
So, I guess Jon Jones has to start from the bottom again and start beating everybody…
If Vera can pull off an upset good job to him but common imagine trying to sell Vera vs Jones/Hendo for the LWH championship? I’m a big big Shogun fan and the dude comes to fight would love to see him fight Hendo in a rematch for the title & Jones vs Shogun sounds good, Shogun does great in his rematch with guys such as Forrest, Coleman, Machida! Cammon #Teamshogun!!
Bullspit. Give it to glover after he runs thru rampage
I guess that’s what happens when you clean out your division. You have to fight scrubs and rematches until the next generation of fighters comes up. I hope Jones moves to heavyweight!
If he beats vera and can overcome the reach somehow, oh **** it rua cant beat jones!?!
I dont think these guys are ahead of Gustafsson, but at the end of the day Jones has already beaten wiped out everyone else so he’s back to the start.
And I think its a little disresepctful of people to just assume the winner will fight Jones. Hendo isn’t a slouch and it’s not the longest shot that he might win.
shogun vs henderson in another 5 rounder sounds very good.
You guys don’t see what Dana sees. Everyone is booked up ( not to sure about gustafsson) so this fight makes sense. It main event, shogun lost by decision to the number 1 contender, and beat lyoto. Vera is a fill in fight, and although I think there are more deserving, if he wins then what can you do but not give him the title fight. Jones fight is soon and the winner of that fight will have to wait too long for the winner shogun vs Vera vs winner of machida vs bader. Common guys, use your head
there are at least 756 different ways to handle this that are better than this shit.
Shogun vs Machida rubber match for #1 contender
anyone except Vera in a #1 contender fight…. literally anyone on the UFC roster
Randy Couture skips the whole line to get a shot at 205… yeah, at least it would make money
Hamill vs Jones – The last man to defeat Jon Jones (they did it with Okami/Anderson)
Gusstafson, but that is too obvious
Shogun vs ANY TOP 20 LHW for #1 contender
I could make a list with 749 other alternatives that are better than this shit, but I’m tired. Don’t try and pretend that this makes sense, it makes you seem stupid.
Vera is top 20 in the UFC. so by your own reasoning, it makes sense for Vera and Shogun to fight. Shogun cannot fight non-Zuffa fighters, bonehead.
Why not gustafsson…bones already destroyed these two guys…**** even little nog is better than vera
Wow. Bones has destroyed the LHW division.
u all say shit now but if any1 beats shogun rua they deserve a title shot.
So true
wow, both guys got dominated by jones, both have no momentum at all, and winner gets a title shot? epic fail ufc
Shogun doesn’t deserve a shot after ducking the Texeira fight. They are basically giving Shogun the title shot when he should have to earn it by facing the better fighter.
obviously Dana is thinking and hoping that shogun wins. Shogun vs Jones II would sell more tickets and PPV buys. That’s why he says it’s all about opportunities for Vera, since he obviously see’s him losing and being released again. Saying that winner gets a shot is the only way he can possibly make Shogun Jones 2.
BULLSHIT!!!!!! How can you choose your opponent for a #1 contender match? Shogun ducked Texiera because it was a “no win” situation; I call bullshit. Pull vera from the fight and replace him with Glover Texiera (like it should have be in the first place) and then the winner can have the next shot.
Well said! This match at the staple center should be an easy win for shogun though. The ufc is banking on it, they want shogun against jones so they can get the brazil ppv buys. The numbers from brazil are out of this world.
Vera deserves a title shot he is one of the best in the world.all u demon seeds no nothing about the sport.i mean Vera ko’d machida he deserves it.
When the hell did Vera KO Machida? When have they even fought?
hahahhahaha , WHAT ?! Shogun ducks a fight vs Texeira an hes on a 2 fights LOSS ****ING STREAK ! He should need like 3 wins before getting a shot at getting beat up by jones again .. Amd Vera .. won 1 of his last 4 fights nuff said
He ko’d griffin then lost to henderson u ****ing moron.learn how to spell then do ur history on the sport u idiot.
VERA HAS NO ****EN HEART AND THE **** IS GOIN TO DIE….
just enough heart to be in the ufc
Dana White, ur a ****ed up dude now. Somethin’s wrong with ur head, go give it a shake.
I can’t believe that the 205 division has come down to this. Dana White, who I have always respected has jumped on the stupid truck. Either find a good match up for the next LHW champ, or make Anderson Silva an offer he can’t refuse. Vera? LMAO!!! I thought this was a joke when I first heard about it. ~Bob’O
opportunity of a lifetime for Brandon Vera. We’ll see if he really is The Truth.
I honestly dont think its safe to match Vera against Jones again.. look what jones did to him 2 years ago and we have seen no evidence that vera has improved enough to prevent the same results again.
Shogun is top 3 Greatest LHW of all time, Chuck Liddell, Hendo and Shogun for now. I see Jones in the future. Anyways we all know what happens with Shogun rematches, also when Jones beat him fair and square not to take anything from the KING, Shogun was rusty as shit. Forrest got KOd, and Hendo fight was a draw last round was 10-8 everyone saw it.
he lost to Hendo
it doesn’t matter if he was rusty, he got smoked, and has no business in the cage with JBJ
Jones is already ahead of all those guys at all time 205 status due to quality of victories.
The fight was clearly a draw, and if Hendo was barly able to “beat” Shogun, what makes you think he deserves a shot? Obviously they are running out of quality opponents because Bones beates them all. If Hendo deserved a shot for getting a draw with shogun…obviously shogun deserves a shot as well. Vera is just a small step for him to pass (with ease I might add)
calm down this just means shogun is next
I don’t know how anyone can bad mouth shogun here, seriously. Look at the guys he’s fought, even in his losses to hendo and lyoto they were controversial and he’s avenged his losses to Coleman, lyoto and Forrest. People here saying he ducked Glover, who the hell is Glover and who has he beat for him to even have the right to fight shogun. Atleast put together a couple of names u bum. Plus with glover, UFC will have probs marketing / selling that fight with Glover being so unknown. Atleast with Brandon, he’s been in UFC a while and fought some names and with both guys being stand up / muay Thai guys, this will make an interesting fight.
+1
Clearly Dana knows that Shogun will win and Vera has no chance. Guy has pillows for fists and after seeing Shogun take Hendo’s best shots it’s pretty much a sure thing we will see Bones vs Shogun 2
I didn’t see anywhere in that article say “winner gets a title shot” he never said that. Misleading headline. They’re assuming that happens. If that happens to be the implications of this fight Vera might as well hit the lotto if, that’s a huge IF, he wins this fight.
What a joke! Brandon (what the **** have I done lately) Vera gets a title shot if he beats Shogun? Surely the UFC is pulling both there dicks cause it doesn’t make any sense at all….oh well I guess they gotta line up someone for JBJ after he retires Hendo…smh!
Wow, April 1st already, boy time flies!
Nick, you moron re-read the first line in the article.
so shogun vs hendo for the belt?
This is ****ing outrageous. There are sooooooooooo many better ways Dana could’ve handled this. Brandon Vera would lose to anyone top 10 let alone the champ and one of the best fighters in the world.
Brandon Vera doesn’t deserve this shot, never mind a shot at Jones. Shogun in the 1st round! He’s gonna bend Vera’s nose to the other side this time!
well see if bones can even get past hendo. odds are def in his favor but if anyone can put jones to sleep its hendo.
well see how much that DUI has shaken his confidence
So Jones/Hendo vs. Shogun it is then! Seems like 205 needs new talent.
Hopefully Chael will move back up to 205,, lots of interesting fights for him if he does
Yeah I do wonder how JBJ would do from his back with Sonnen on top. Sonnen needs to work on his GnP though..
As big of a fan of Shogun that i am, this is still really dumb..If he was fighting Rampage or Texeria then yeah he definitly should face bones again, buut hes not.. I guess Dana blew up the whole Shogun, Glover issue then because if he really avoided glover like that, there is no way in hell Dana White would be giving him a rematch with bones if he wins..
What the **** kind of BS is this? If Vera wins, I’m not going to even bother watching Vera vs Jones, Vera already got ****ed up by jones. Let alone, doesnt even deserve a fight against Rua, or even ****ing bader.
Bottom line: you do not deserve a title shot if you duck a fight! Rua ducked the person he should have to beat for a shot. Texeira would walk through Vera.
All 4 lost to Jones, and it wasn’t even close. If the fight should go to the loser with the least ass kicked, that would probably be Bader or Machida. Vera has cardio but no heart, Rua has heart but no cardio. Franklin, Ortiz, Griffin, or even Wanderoids would be more interesting than Dana’s new cast of Oz character. If Vera is the cowardly lion, Rua is the scarecrow, Bader is tinman, Machida is toto, than that leaves Dana as dorothy.
both would get destroyed by Jones in the 2nd round…