True to his words that he would ‘rather die’ than lose ONE heavyweight title in Manila, Fil-Am mixed martial artist retained his ONE World heavyweight belt after knocking out his challenger Mauro Cerrili of Italy.
Interestingly, what was thought an exciting fight of the main event between the two great fighters turned out to be a “no sweat” to our Fil-Am fighter. Because in just over a minute, Vera’s Italian foe Cerrili was knocked out with a thunder flash left hook that landed on Italian’s jaw and led the referee to step in and end the fight while the Cerrili laid down on the floor shaken.
Vera, who endless thank his Filipino supporters said, “The Philippines owns five World titles, we as a country can do this. Please support your martial artists because they can win. Let’s collect all the belts!”
The Fil-Am MMA Champion admitted that Cerrili is a “dangerous fighter” and that his challenger has power and he felt the Italian’s power when the punch landed on his mouth.
“When we hit each other at the same time he split the skin of my mouth,” Vera added, who had waited for almost two years before defending his belt. The last fight of Vera in December of 2016.