Once again, mixed martial arts goes head-to-head with boxing when, on November 14, the UFC heads to Manchester, England to present UFC 105 on the same night that pound-for-pound champion Manny Pacquiao takes on WBO welterweight champion Miguel Cotto. Pulling out all the stops, UFC 105 will be headlined by one of the most beloved UFC fighters of all time, former champion Randy Couture, taking on Filipino light heavyweight Brandon Vera.
Couture is coming off of a disappointing unanimous decision loss to heavyweight Antonio Nogueira at UFC 102. Actually, come to think of it, Couture is coming off of two losses, having also been stopped by current heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar prior to losing to Nogueira. It's odd to see the UFC headline an event with a fighter who's coming off back-to-back losses, but I guess since it's Randy Couture, they'll make an exception. At least Vera is currently riding a two-fight win streak. In his last bout, also at UFC 102, Vera won a uneventful unanimous decision over Krzysztof Soszynski.
Although Vera is arguably the most well-known Filipino fighter in the UFC, make no mistake about it, he's no Manny Pacquiao. After struggling in heavyweight bouts with Tim Sylvia and Fabricio Werdum, Vera decided to move down to light heavyweight, but his performances have been less than spectacular. In his four bouts at the new weight, he's only stopped one opponent and went the distance with the other three, losing one of those bouts via split decision to Keith Jardine. None of those fights were very entertaining and all of them lacked the type of fire power that can be found in all of Manny Pacquiao's fights.
Considering that the talent is deep in the light heavyweight division, Couture, who will be making his return to the 205-pound division, could have faced a number of opponents. The selection of Vera, who's not even ranked in the top 10 of most lists, was obviously a move to counter boxing's biggest fight of the year in Manny Pacquiao vs. Miguel Cotto. Unfortunately for the UFC, the Filipino Force is strong in Manny Pacquiao and come November 14th, all Filipino eyes will be glued to the squared circle as opposed to the Octagon. Perhaps UFC President Dana White and matchmaker Joe Silva can go back to the drawing board and come up with a more worthy headliner than an aging former champion coming off two losses and a Filipino mixed martial artist whose fights are just about as exciting as a heavyweight boxing match.
No my friends, Brandon Vera is no Manny Pacquiao.
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