Brandon Vera Released by the UFC Following Loss to Thiago Silva

Brandon Vera and Thiago Silva at UFC 125

What started as an extremely promising career with the UFC has now ended as Brandon Vera has been released from the promotion as of Thursday morning.

The news of Vera’s release was confirmed to MMAWeekly.com by sources close to the fighter. FiveOuncesofPain.com initially reported the release.

Vera came to the UFC with only four professional fights on his record, but a ton of talent and hype behind him from day one.

The brash young fighter proclaimed right away that he had goals of becoming a two weight class champion, and wanted to fight Chuck Liddell, who at the time was the UFC’s reigning and defending light heavyweight title holder.

It looked good in the early going for Vera, who reeled off four straight wins including a TKO over former heavyweight champion Frank Mir. A contract dispute put Vera out of the cage for several months following that win, and when he returned he was stymied by former heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia.

After that it was a mixed bag of results for Vera who went 3-5 in his last 8 bouts after the Sylvia fight. His career with the UFC closed on an 0-3 run, culminating with a loss to Thiago Silva at UFC 125.