By: Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
King, the ruler, El president, the guy.
These were just some of the numerous monikers associated with MMA fighter Brandon Vera, who reigned the One FC since 2014 as an undefeated heavyweight champion.
On October 13, 2019, Vera’s legacy was tainted as he suffered his first knockout loss in the league he dominated for five years.
Aung La Nsang shocked the whole world as he ended Vera’s historic undefeated run in the tournament with a devastating spinning elbow and ground and pound to finish.
Sang, the title holder for both the middleweight and the light heavyweight championships in One, proved to be Vera’s equal since entering the tournament last 2014.
Vera dictated the pace in the first round, as he hit Sang with tons of body kicks, keeping Sang at a distance.
Sang began to connect with his jabs late in the first round to quickly pick up the rhythm he was finding in the first four minutes of the match.
Come the second round, both fighters picked up the pace and began to trade hard blows and engaged more.
Sang began to cut the distance and went inside to punish Vera, but Vera was also quick with his counters and as solid as a rock, brushing off Sang’s body shots and hooks.
With less than 2 minutes in the second round, both fighters had a crazy exchange that put them both on the brink of falling down, but Sang found an opportunity to throw a spinning elbow which connected with Vera’s head that put him to the canvass, Sang quickly followed with hard ground and pounds to hand Vera his first career loss in One FC.
