Brandon Vera will make ONE FC debut vs Igor Subora

MANILA, Philippines – Filipino-American fighter Brandon Vera will face Igor Subora in his ONE Fighting Championship (ONE FC)  debut on the undercard of ONE FC: Warrior’s Way on December 5.

Asia’s largest mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion publicly confirmed the fight booking on Thursday afternoon, October 30.

“ONE Fighting Championship will hold nothing back as it returns for another night to remember in Manila, Philippines. Brandon Vera is a global Filipino mixed martial arts superstar, and ONE FC will finally give fans in the Philippines the opportunity to see him in action live for the first time. He’ll be tested against heavyweight standout Igor Subora,” ONE FC chief Victor Cui stated in a press release.

The 37-year-old Vera parted ways with the UFC this past June after working in the world’s premier mixed martial arts (MMA) organization for nearly nine years.

Since his UFC release, Vera opted to direct his career path to ONE FC a month later, inking an undisclosed multi-fight deal.

(RELATED: Brandon Vera seeks career rebirth with One FC)

Vera (12-7, 1 NC) last fought in August 2013 at the UFC 164 pay-per-view event, where he was stopped by Ben Rothwell via third-round technical knockout.

The 6-foot-2 Alliance MMA representative joined the UFC in October 2005 as a heavily-hyped heavyweight prospect, finishing seven of his eight adversaries, including former UFC titleholder Frank Mir.

“The Truth” was expected to vie for the UFC heavyweight strap following an impressive 8-0 winning streak, but a yearlong contract dispute spoiled his plans for a championship crack.

By the time it was resolved, Vera was off his game and dropped two-straight disappointing setbacks to Tim Sylvia and Fabricio Werdum.

Vera then elected to move down to light heavyweight, but the outcomes were mixed as he came up short to notable names such as reigning 205-pound king Jon Jones, MMA legend Randy Couture, one-time UFC champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and Keith Jardine.

The last time Vera had his hand raised in victory inside the cage was when he outpointed Eliot Marshall at UFC 137 in October 2011.

On the other hand, Subora (5-1) is a Ukrainian Sambo practitioner, who made a name for himself in the Philippine-based Universal Reality Combat Championship (URCC).

A former URCC heavyweight titlist, Subora has never went the distance in his MMA career, winning five of his six professional outings by either knockout or submission in the first round.

Aside from the Vera-Subora pairing, ONE FC announced the main event for the aforementioned fight card, which takes place at the 20,000-seater SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City, Metro Manila.

Bibiano Fernandes (16-3) defends the ONE FC bantamweight belt against Korean standout Dae Hwan Kim (10-0-1) in a five-round clash.

Fernandes successfully headlined last May’s ONE FC: Rise of Heroes by thumping Masakatsu Ueda by way of unanimous decision, while Kim earned the title shot by submitting Pinoy stalwart Kevin Belingon at ONE FC: War of Nations in March. – Rappler.com