It took two years before Brandon Vera returned to the cage. And he vowed that he will never be gone that long again.
Even if he is now a mixed martial artist/actor, he has already booked his next bout inside the ONE Championship cage.
“So, pagbaba ko sa cage, I talked to the management group and we already have three movies lined up – two here in the Philippines and one in Hong Kong,” disclosed Vera after easily disposing of Mauro Cerilli to retain the ONE Heavyweight World Championship, Friday evening.
“Promise, I’ll never be away for that long. I’ve promised that I’ll fight again next year, October, in Japan.”
Who does he want to face next?
Vera made a declaration during his post-fight interview. The 16-year veteran wants all the championships here in Manila.
“In the world of Martial Arts, the Philippines owns five world titles! Eto, kayang-kaya natin dito sa bansa natin,” Vera said, as Eduard Folayang now owns the Lightweight Championship, while Kevin Belingon, Geje Eustaquio, and Joshua Pacio are the kingpins of the Bantamweight, Flyweight, and Strawweight divisions.
“Kolektahin natin ang lahat ng belt!”
Thus, the 41-year-old is planning to drop back down to Light Heavyweight – a division he hasn’t been in since 2012 – to challenge whoever is the champion in that division. If there’s no Filipino competing at the 102.1 kg division, well he might as well do it himself.
“I asked to fight who is holding the belt that time in the Light Heavyweight division. That’s who I want to fight next.”
Currently, Aung La N Sang has been dominant in that division. And that’s a fighter Vera wants to face, since he is one of the best in the world today.
“Right now, it’s Aung La [N Sang]. He is an amazing athlete. If you don’t know him, you really don’t know what your talking about here. That’s who I want to fight next,” he furthered.
“I continue to challenge myself and fight the best athletes in the world until my body don’t want me to do it. I think my brain wants me to do this forever but my body says only five more years? We’ll see from there.”
But his goal of becoming two-division champion is not his alone. For him, it’s his and Team Lakay’s way of giving back to the country.
“Hindi lang sa amin [ito]. Sa atin ito.”
