By Paul Eldert, The Virginian-Pilot
Brandon “The Truth” Vera is done counting calories, and he couldn’t be happier.
The Norfolk native will return to the mixed martial arts heavyweight division for the first time in five years on Saturday, when he fights Ben Rothwell at UFC 164 in Milwaukee.
Saturday will mark Vera’s first fight since headlining “UFC on Fox: Shogun vs. Vera,” a little more than a year ago.
Vera and many others say they believe that light-heavyweight fight against Mauricio “Shogun” Rua — though a loss — was the best of his career. And it put Vera in as great a place mentally and physically as he has been in years.
“Whatever screw was loose when he dropped me, when I came out of that fight, I think I understood that moment right when I walked out of the cage, I understood what needed to be done, what I should have been doing the whole time,” Vera said.
Watch the UFC 164 preliminary card Saturday with three fights on sportsnet.ca starting at 6:30 p.m. ET / 3:30 p.m. PT then four additional bouts on Sportsnet 360 at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. – Broadcast Schedule
The Lake Taylor High graduate took 30 days off after the fight, and his weight ranged from 230 to 238 before jumping to 255.
Vera now weighs 247 and says he feels great.
“I’m a total different body than I’ve ever been,” Vera said in a telephone interview this week.
“I trained the whole time since my last fight. I haven’t fought in a year, but I didn’t stop training.”
Or stop eating. Vera can eat whatever he pleases now that he is out of the light-heavyweight class.
“When I go out to eat, I would have to eat so many calories or I would have to think about what I’m getting. It was always a mind game with me when I was eating,” he said. “And I didn’t grow up that way. My dad owned restaurants when we were growing up. We never had to worry about what we were eating.”
Nicknamed “The Truth” now for his forthcoming demeanor, Vera wrestled at Old Dominion for a year.
“When I was 18, I think, my counselor was like ‘You need to make a decision on what you want to do for the rest of your life,’ ” Vera said. “I was like ‘Man, I’m not even legal to drink yet and you (want me to) figure out what I want to do for the rest of my life.’ So that’s when I started figuring college wasn’t for me.”
Vera enlisted in the Air Force and suffered a severe right-arm injury in a wrestling match. He said an Air Force surgeon botched his operation, which caused him to lose the use of his arm for more than 18 months. Vera was released from the Air Force on a medical discharge.
Not knowing his next career step, Vera returned to Norfolk.
“I was watching a fight with my little brother,” Vera said. “I didn’t want to go back to school. So we were watching the UFC and I decided I wanted to have at it that evening. I think I was watching Randy Couture beating up somebody. That’s when I decided I wanted to become a UFC fighter.”
Vera, who lives in San Diego, has since put together an interesting career. He fought and lost — in a controversial decision — to Couture in 2009. Couture admitted in a post-fight interview he didn’t think he would get the decision.
“I can’t dwell on it anymore,” Vera said. “I’m still (angry) about it, that it went that way back then, but what can you do? It’s water under the bridge.”
Despite the result, being able to fight the man that inspired Vera to become a UFC fighter is something Vera still cherishes.
“It was surreal,” Vera said. “There is no other way to explain it. It is something I am blessed to be able to have experienced.”
Briefly, it seemed like Vera’s time in UFC had run its course. After losing at UFC 125 to Thiago Silva, Vera’s record dropped to 7-6. When it was revealed Silva had failed a post-fight drug test, the match was ruled a no contest, Vera’s record was changed to 7-5-0-1 and he rejoined the UFC.
“It was a dark period,” Vera said. “I lost two weeks. I really don’t know what I did.
“I really don’t remember the time between those phone calls.”
Vera, whose record is 8-6-0-1 in UFC and 12-6-0-1 overall in MMA, said that when the time comes to call it quits, he might return to school and become a farmer. He said he is intrigued with conventional farming and aquaponics. But the horticulture will have to wait.
“I’m going full-bore for the next three years,” Vera said, “put a strap around my waist and then after I get that I’ll probably retire.”
