Heavyweight champ Vera reveals he’s been fighting with nerve damage in arms

Brandon Vera: I’m just attacking the whole time —TRISTAN TAMAYO/INQUIRER.NET

Brandon Vera has enjoyed a sterling run in ONE Championship, becoming its heavyweight world champion and successfully defending it twice.

But what makes that feat more impressive is the fact that Vera, now 42, had been doing so despite nerve damage in both arms.

“This [right] arm, [I hurt during my time at the] Air Force,” he told Sports IQ’s new show, “Home & Away,” which premieres this Sunday on Facebook.

“I hurt this in another combat sporting event,” he added, pointing to his left arm.

Vera said his right arm was injured in 1999 and although he’s had surgery on it, it has been bothering him ever since.

“After the surgery, my arm was never right. It has never been right again. It falls asleep sometimes. Sometimes my hand goes numb. A lot of different things, you know,” he said.

Vera says he experien­ces unease in his arms during fights, but “it doesn’t matter.”

Vera, who is currently hunkered down in Guam and preparing to be a first-time dad to a son with wife Jessica, insists that he never viewed it as a handicap of sorts.

“[O]nce they close that circle, I’m not really defending, I’m just attacking the whole time,” he said. “I’m trying to get [my opponent], and I’m not even thinking about that.”

“I don’t worry about it until way, way after,” added one of two reigning Filipino champions in the Asian promotion.