Fil-Am Brandon “The Truth” Vera resumes his quest for a crack at the light heavyweight crown as he takes on Keith “The Dean of Mean” Jardine in UFC 89 on Oct. 18 in Birmingham, United Kingdom.
It will be the Norfolk, Virginia native’s second fight since sliding down from the heavyweight class to light heavyweight and beating Reese “Riptide” Andy via unanimous decision last July 19 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The odds is just about even with Vera, fighting out of San Diego, California, and Jardine, a former football coach, wild land firefighter, miner and bounty hunter out of Butte, Montana, both standing 6-2 and weighing 205 lbs. They fight with practically the same styles.
Vera is a black belter in muay Thai and a former two-time Pan-American wrestling champion.
Jardine, who fights out Albuquerque, is into kickboxing and one of the best practitioners of Greg Jackson’s new fighting art Gaodojutsu as black belt in the martial art – a combination of judo, kickboxing and wrestling.
Vera has won his first eight fights, including six straight where he won either by submission or technical knockout while Jardine has a 13-5-1 (win-loss-draw) record.
Vera, however, will be coming into the match confident following his win over Andy while Jardine is reeling from a loss to Wanderlei Silva in UFC 84 last May 24.
Two of Vera’s wins came at the expense of former heavyweight title contenders Assuerio Silva in UFC 60 and Frank Mir in UFC 65 two years ago but suffered two stinging losses to former heavyweight champion Tim “The Maineiac” Sylvia in UFC 77 last year and to Brazilian Fabricio Werdum two months ago in UFC 85 in London. – Joey Villar