The Truth on Jon Jones

Inaugural ONE heavyweight Champion Brandon “The Truth” Vera appeared recently on the What the Heck podcast, and discussed fighting light heavyweight GOAT Jon Jones in the main event of UFC on Versus 1 on March 21, 2010. Jones won via one of the most devastating GnP elbows in the history of the sport, at 3:19 of Round 1. Vera faulted Jones for keeping the fight on the ground for the vast majority of the Round.

We were on our feet, recalled Vera. We were dancing. He couldn’t touch me on my feet. I remember moving stuff out of the way and parrying, and I remember the look of panic on his face. … I’m telling the interview, Jones, you can tell the story how you want – I remember your eyes. I remember how you looked.

Then he shot in and took me down, and I was like, ‘Man, you’re supposed to be this amazing standup guy, why would you take me down?’ Man, this guy’s horrible. And I remember I just boot-kicked him off me and stood back up. I was like, ‘Man, you can’t even hold me on the ground.’

So I started dancing even more. I’m going to start whooping this guy’s ass. I start feeling myself on the feet. This guy wants nothing to do with me. He’s just moving away. He’s supposed to be, what’d I say, the second coming of Jesus Christ? C’mon, man, let’s do this. And then he took me down again. Listen, while I’m on my back, this guy is trying to work on top of me, and I’m just pummeling with him. This guy. Everybody thinks this guy’s that good. He throws an elbow, I move out of the way. C’mon, man.

And in my head, I said, ‘This guy f***ing…’ And right when I got the first s out, whack! That’s when he elbowed me in my face and broke my face. I remember thinking, ‘What the hell was that?’ I was sitting there holding my face. I’d never felt nothing like that before, even to this day, all the injuries and all the surgeries, I’d never had no pain like that before. It wasn’t an orbital fracture – it was a tripod fracture, so my face broke [in three places], like this whole bone caved in.

And as I’m holding my face, I’m thinking, ‘What the hell was that?’ And my next thought was, ‘That’s what you get. That’s what you get, assh***, for being so cocky. That’s what you get for talking *** during a fight. That’s what you get for thinking too much of yourself. So, thanks Mr. Jones, that’s something I’ve learned, and I’ve never forgotten to this day.

I think that if Jon Jones puts his mind together and gets his brain, really, gets his mind right, he could still be a force to reckon with. He’s always dangerous inside of the Octagon. But man, he just can’t stop being Jon Jones, and that’s the problem. He could do so much more for the world if he could figure that part out, and it makes me sad about him, because this kid, dude, he could do so much for the world if he would just stop being that guy. I don’t even know how to say it. He’s just being that guy.

Him moving up to heavyweight is a cool, cool thing. I would absolutely love to do a superfight at heavyweight. I would absolutely love that. I welcome it. He’s faster than the guys at heavyweight, but heavyweights hit a little bit different. When they hit you, even if you block, even if you move out of the way, even if you take some off, it stings just a little bit more. ‘Oh, heavyweights are slow.’ OK. They’re slow until they touch you one time. Then you slow down. Then they touch you again. Oh, you slow down again.

I think it’s going to be a good move for him. Entertaining for the fans, for sure, if he can keep it together.

It’s never, ever too late. And man, what’s your excuse? It’s Mike Tyson, man. F***ing Mike Tyson. Your life was not as hard as this guy’s. You didn’t go through all the bulls*** that he went through. You didn’t have somebody rob you at the peak of your career. You didn’t have people trying to fight you for lawsuits. Dude, your life is nowhere near as hard as what that guy went through. So man, it is possible. You can get it back together. You just need to want to get it together. Maybe it’s just too many yes-man around that guy. Maybe he needs a new group of friends. It happens.

And Vera would still love a rematch.

Dude, I would love and welcome that, he said. He definitely taught me something that day. He taught me a lot about myself. I got goosebumps just thinking about that.

Vera will next defend his ONE heavyweight belt vs. Arjan Bhullar,

h/t Steven Marrocco for MMA Fighting