Brandon Vera Would Love Rematch With Aung La Nsang At Heavyweight
Recently, ONE Championship has been beefing up its heavyweight division with the likes of Amir Aliakbari, Marcus Almeida and Tom DeBlass. As the champion of the division, Brandon Vera is going to have his hands full, once the borders open and normal service resumes. But even with the new additions to the division, ‘The Truth’ would love to run it back with Aung La Nsang in his own weight class.
Neither Vera or Aung La have competed since last October at ONE: Century, where ‘The Burmese Python’ defended his light heavyweight title by stopping the Filipino in the second round.
An Invitation
Speaking to SCMP MMA, Vera said he would ‘absolutely love it’ if Aung La wanted to run it back at heavyweight.
“Aung is the man,” Vera stated. “If he wanted to come up to heavyweight and have a go I would absolutely love it, I think that would be so cool. I enjoyed our time in that Circle together.
“I’m a huge fan of Aung, he says he’s a huge fan of me. We’re basically cut from the same cloth. I would love if he came up to heavyweight, are you kidding me? That would be amazing.”
Should Aung La accept the challenge, Vera points out that he learned a lot from their previous bout and ensured that he wont’ make the same mistakes a second time.
“I would not block his kicks with my hand,” Vera joked. “That’s the only thing I’ve seen since watching the film over and over again. That kinda set the tone of the match.
“Once I broke my hand in the first 26 or 30 seconds … I was trying to figure out what was going on with my hand during ‘Mr Amazing’ Aung La coming after me and then when I finally figured out what’s going on, I’m already trying to play catch-up behind the catch-up behind the two division champ.
“I definitely would not make the same mistake twice,” Vera continued. “That being said, man, it’s part of the gig. We have to make split-millisecond decisions and sometimes we’re on the right road, and sometimes were on the bumpy four-wheel drive car.”
Not Looking Past Bhullar
With all the new additions in the heavyweight division, some fans are calling for a tournament. Vera however, says he is solely focused on Arjan Bhullar. The 42 year old was scheduled to defend his title against the Canadian-Indian in May, but the bout was scrapped due to the global coronavirus pandemic.
“I’m not looking past Arjan. All this tournament talk, Mr Arjan I know it’s still you and I. Just so you know, I’m not looking past you with that great wrestling and that boxing. I’ve never faced a heavyweight who’s a great wrestler and a great boxer at the same time. I’ve competed against other wrestlers, I’ve sparred with boxers, ridiculous boxers. So I’m kinda excited about it.
“My game plan is gonna change a little bit for this match. I’m excited to implement it. I have something to aspire to make happen for our meeting.
“I’m looking forward to training for this event. We’re starting to implement it now, but it’s more staying in shape, staying healthy, staying strong, as opposed to camp mode, camp shape, camp drills.
“There’s just gonna be a lot more oomph behind everything when we go, just because there’s a bit of angst I guess in my pants from having an L on my record. There’s a little bit more coming with it, but it’s not Mr Arjan’s fault. He’s just the one next in line. So yeah, let’s get on it, let’s press the gas.”
If Brandon Vera successfully defends his ONE heavyweight title against Arjan Bhullar, would you like to see him run it back with Aung La Nsang at heavyweight?
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