BRANDON Vera will finally return to action in November.
The longtime veteran, who hasn’t competed since his first title defense in December 2016, is scheduled to put his ONE heavyweight title on the line against Mauro Cerilli on Nov. 23, the company announced Thursday.
ONE: Conquest of Champions will take place at the Mall of Asia Arena in Manila and also feature Eduard Folayang versus Amir Khan for the vacant lightweight belt.
Vera (15-7, 1 no-contest) won the title with a 26-second victory over Paul Cheng in December of 2015, coming back a year later for his first – and so far only – title defense.
Cerilli (12-2) makes his ONE debut on a five-fight winning streak, winning and defending the Cage Warriors heavyweight belt in the process.
In the co-main event, former champion Folayang will attempt to reclaim the lightweight belt when he meets Khan.
“Landslide” Folayang is coming off back-to-back wins over Kharun Atlangeriev and Aziz Pakhrudinov, while Khan stopped Sung Jong Lee and Honorio Banario in a four-month span.
The lightweight belt once belonged to Martin Nguyen, who went on to collect a second title after moving down to featherweight and then challenge twice for the bantamweight gold, coming up short in both occasions.
Nguyen, who never defended the lightweight title, keeps his featherweight belt. (Guilherme Cruz, MMAFighting.com)
