The TRUTH.
Family Man. Patriot. Warrior.
Scholarship, Service, and the Start of a Storied Career
Before Brandon “The Truth” Vera became an MMA champion and an action movie star, he grew up in a house with seven boys and three girls in Norfolk, Virginia. Brandon was born to a Filipino father and an Italian mother. Raised in Norfolk, he attended Lake Taylor High where he excelled in wrestling, earning a four-year scholarship to Old Dominion University just a few miles from home.
Brandon had the desire to serve his country, so he left college and enlisted himself in the United States Air Force. He pursued his passion for wrestling while in the Air Force and trained at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
A serious injury ended his hopes of competing in the Olympics and his service in the U.S. Air Force concluded with a medical discharge.
Vera returned to Virginia, where he steadily rehabilitated his arm, rediscovered his strength and focus and entered the Grapplers Quest submission wrestling competitions on the East Coast.
There, his solitary training methods (he did not belong to a camp and trained on his own) caught the attention of Lloyd Irvin, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu Black Belt and coach who invited him to train at his school where Brandon was introduced to mixed martial arts.