"It would have been stupid for me to take the Vera fight on short notice," stated UFC light heavyweight contender Sokoudjou as he talked about why he wasn't willing to fight Brandon Vera on the July 19th UFC Fight Night card. Sokoudjou explains that his management team is aware of the fact that he likes to have 8 weeks to prepare for his fights. Although he admits to being offered the fight, he says he was "on vacation and busy living it up in Europe" at the time it was offered and that he wasn't training or thinking about fighting so soon.

The "African Assassin" did, however, like the idea of a possible fight with Vera and told his management team that he would love to face Brandon in September at UFC 88 so that he and his teammate, Dan Henderson, could fight on the same card. Unfortunately, as quickly as the fight was offered, Sokoudjou was informed that they had already scheduled Vera to fight Reese Andy. "What has he done for me to fear him," Sokoudjou stated in closing as he made it clear that he's not afraid to face any fighter. His next fight is set for October 18th against Luiz Cane at UFC 89.