Vera Loses to Werdum at UFC 85

Just as he predicted, Fabricio Werdum won in the first round.

But it wasn’t the type of victory the two-time Brazilian world ju-jitsu champion had envisioned.

Werdum was proclaimed winner by technical knockout over Filipino-Italian Brandon Vera after the heavyweight fight was stopped by the referee during the UFC 85: Bedlam at the O2 Arena here.

The crowd of about 14,000 jeered the decision by referee Dan Migliotta over what they thought was a premature waiving out of Vera.

Migliotta insisted, however, that Vera — who was making a comeback in the UFC after an eight-month respite — had asked him to halt the fight after being pinned down by Werdum with only 20 ticks left in the five-minute first round.

“He (Migliotta) told me to defend myself and I said that I’m OK,” said Vera. “He probably thought I said that ‘OK no more.’ The referee is stupid.”

Despite getting trapped underneath by Werdum’s 247-pound frame, Vera showed no sign of surrender as the wrestling and muay expert tried to weather the Brazilian’s punches.

“I was not hurt, most of his punches landed on my arms and hands,” said Vera, who absorbed his second straight loss after winning his first eight fights.

Still, Vera accepted the defeat without any resentment against Werdum.

“It made me sad when they (crowd) booed him — it wasn’t Fabricio’s fault,” said Vera, who jarred Werdum with a combination of crisp punches to the head in the middle of the first round.

He caught Werdum with a solid right cross but failed to sustain the charge. Then Vera was taken down and that proved decisive for Werdum’s 11th win against three losses and a draw.

“I was in a bad position when Werdum took me down, so it left me with no other choice but to defend myself, which I did,” said Vera, who entered the octagon to the bouncy melody of “Bebot” by Apl.de.ap, the Fil-Am rap star with the Black Eyed Peas.

Both fighters later said a rematch is possible.

“He (Werdum) wants to do it again,” said Vera. “I’ll ask Dana White (UFC president) for a rematch.”

Werdum had earlier declared that his fight with Vera would not last the distance with the result going either way.

In the main bout, Thiago Alves pulled off a stirring upset by scoring a first-round stoppage over seven-time UFC welterweight champion Matt Hughes. Middleweight Michael Bisping of Liverpool, England, also won by TKO in the first round over Canada ’s Jason Day.

Other bouts saw welterweight Mike Swick of the United States pulling off a unanimous decision over compatriot Marcus Davis and middleweight Thales Leites of Brazil escaping with a split decision over Nate Marquardt of Denver.

Source: sports.inquirer.net