Vera on Randy Couture's defeat of the man he will face today:

"I think I was the loudest one at my house watching Randy whoop Tim's ass," Vera says. "When I saw Randy before the fight, I told him, 'I'm glad, if anybody, it's you.'"

Vera on his recent management troubles:

"I believe in karma, and if you think like that, I think it comes back to you," he says. "It was nobody's fault but my manager's." Instead, Vera adopted a more cautious approach in regards to the people with whom he surrounds himself. "It's very hard to trust people on a handshake," he says. "It's kind of like Congress; you have to have checks and balances in your system."

Vera on the added importance of his fight with Sylvia:

"To me, the fight hasn't changed in importance," he says. "I don't think about the title. It's not up for grabs, and it's not mine to wear yet."

Vera on Sylvia and how he trained to beat him:

"He's a big, tough guy," Vera says. "I don't understand why people don't respect him as much as I do. He's agile for a big guy, and he likes to win. We took every part of Tim's game and found somebody better," Vera says. "We brought in people who were bigger than Tim, with better hands and better ground games."

Vera on why he's successful in the octagon and his plans to win the heavyweight and light heavyweight title:

"A lot of people talk about how they push themselves to the limit," Vera says. "I'm willing to break my body to win a fight. Hopefully, I'll have a championship belt in a year or two," Vera says. "If not one, then both of them." Vera on his upbringing and his father:

"He came over and did the American dream," Vera says. "He worked two jobs, 80 hours a week, and now he owns six or seven restaurants. He's raised a beautiful family. He came over here with nothing, and he did it. There are people who were born here who can't say that."

Vera on his legacy:

"I want to be considered one of the greatest fighters of all time," Vera says. "If you asked people to name the greatest boxer, some people might say Muhammad Ali; others might say Rocky Marciano. I would love to be the best, but I want to be so high up there on people's lists that I'm at least talked about as one of the best ever."

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