UPSET WITH UFC 85 STOPPAGE, VERA WANTS REMATCH

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UPSET WITH UFC 85 STOPPAGE, VERA WANTS REMATCH
Sunday, June 08, 2008 - by Jeff Cain - MMAWeekly.com

Brandon "The Truth" Vera was defeated by Fabricio Werdum at UFC 85, but the heavyweight fighter did not agree with the referee stoppage with 20 seconds left in round one and wants a rematch with Werdum.

"That ref (Dan Miragliotta) sucks," bluntly stated Brandon Vera during the UFC 85 post-fight press conference. "I don't agree with that stoppage, and I'm pissed. I had to walk away from the ref.

"The referee was asking me, talking to me, saying something like, 'are you okay?' He was talking to me. I remember he was talking to me and I was saying, 'I'm okay. I'm okay. I'm okay.' I said it three times. I made sure I stressed, 'I'm.' My last fight I fought with a broken hand after the first thirty seconds, all three rounds, no complaints. I was getting punched in the face man. Come on."

Vera continued, "He hit me three or four times. The rest were on my arms. Fabricio had an awesome mount. I wasn't getting out of the mount. I figured I'd just have to ride the ass-whoopin out for the next 20 seconds, get up to our feet in the second round, and I was going to give it to him... I didn't even start kicking yet."

During the press conference, Werdum commented that Vera must work his way back up through the ranks before getting a rematch, something that didn't sit well with Vera.

"I'm kind of disappointed in Fabricio," said the California fighter. "He said yes earlier in the cage, right after. At least that's what I thought. He shook his head, yea, we can do it again. Now he's telling me to get back in line. I understand why he doesn't want to fight me again."

With the victory over Vera, Werdum is likely in line for a title shot against the winner of Frank Mir and current UFC heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira following next season's edition of the Spike TV reality series "The Ultimate Fighter."

[MMA_Fan]

It's unfortunate but Fabricio is right though. Even if the decision was bad, Vera does have to wait in line again.

[Wyatt]

What makes the stoppage worse is that this was the same ref that let Kimbo get pounded out UNPROTECTED for a minute and a half, gotta love consistancy...

[johnd70]

i feel bad for vera, he really wasn't in trouble at all, as far as getting hurt at the point of the stopage, it was poor timing for a stopage.
dan is not the man in this situation.

[MMA_Fan]

Vera has nobody to blame but himself. If you don't want the ref to stop the fight, don't just sit there covering up. You have show movement that you are still fighting.