Brandon Vera Retains Heavyweight Title In Devastating One-Minute Victory – The Monitor
Brandon Vera — ONE Heavyweight Champion — known to millions around the world as “The Truth” (as well as the second most popular Filipino fighter of all time), brought the Mall of Asia Arena to its feet in a rousing victory over undefeated Mauro Cerilli, himself a heavyweight titleholder at Cage Warriors, in a highly anticipated champion versus champion superfight with the ONE Heavyweight strap on the line.
16,000 deafening Filipinos went into a electrified frenzy after Vera knocked Cerilli out cold at the 1:04 mark of the very first round. After losing to an over-sized Ben Rothwell in the UFC back in 2013, Vera has been on a spectacular four-year tear, finishing every opponent in the first round. In fact, his average fight time since moving to ONE Championship is now a comical 1:31.
MMA enthusiast Franco Mabanta — successful young CEO and good friend to Vera — calls him “the Tyson of the East in the cage and the Dwayne Johnson of Southeast Asia everywhere else.”
And aptly so, Vera caps off a 2018 that saw his star rise like never before.
“He’s coming off one of the most expensive Filipino films ever produced, which was just picked up by Netflix,” continues Mabanta, “starred alongside the biggest actress of all time, continually engaged in multiple philanthropic missions to help poor kids, the President of the Philippines knows who he is, the Chief of Police is his friend, Governor Chavit Singson and former Senator Bongbong Marcos are his godfathers, he just bought a farm in Guam, is opening the first state-of-the-art Alliance MMA Training Center at our new mall in Katipunan, and — most importantly — just married the love of his life.
Only thing that could possibly make this year better is if Brandon helps lobby for marijuana legalization and we all end up calling him the Pinoy Patron Saint of Cannabis. We’re all so very proud of him and his amazing wife Jess.
Upon being asked by talented CNN Sportscaster Charles Tiu why he made the switch to Asia (clearly the right move), Vera responds, “I had to come back home to learn how to grind again, how to appreciate, and how to care for being a world champion.”
Finally, upon being asked by ONE Championship lead commentator Michael Schiavello if the fans had to wait another two years to see the champ back in the cage, Brandon jokes, “I promise you, I will never be gone for two years again…unless I’m getting paid an absurd amount of money (elsewhere).”
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