FORMER ONE heavyweight king Brandon “The Truth” Vera springs back into action in the “ONE 164 - Pacio vs. Brooks” show on Dec. 3 at the SM Mall of Asia Arena following a long layoff.

The 45-year-old Vera takes on Greco-Roman wrestling world champion Amir Aliakbari in one of the featured fights of the stacked event.

Vera makes his cage comeback after taking a one-year and seven-month layoff after losing his ONE heavyweight belt to Arjan Bhullar via a second round stoppage in 2021.

Vera is in dire need of a win after losing his last two fights, one against Bhullar and the other against two-division champion Aung La Nsang.

After losing his first two fights in ONE against Kang Ji Won and interim ONE heavyweight titleholder Anatoly Malykhin, the 34-year-old Aliakbari bounced back with a second round knockout of Mauro Cerilli on Aug. 27.

Aliakbari hopes to beat a very popular fighter in Vera and hopefully break into the top five of the heavyweight division.

Vera is 16-9, while Aliakbari is 11-3.

Also added to the card that’s stacked with Pinoy fighters is Drex Zamboanga, the older brother of Denice Zamboanga.

Drex, 13-5, takes on the winner of the ONE Warrior Series Philippines, which will be announced soon.

In the main event, ONE strawweight champion Joshua Pacio (20-3) defends his belt against Jarred Brooks (19-2).

Three of Pacio’s teammates at Team Lakay are also scheduled to see action in the same card.

Ex-ONE flyweight king Geje Eustaquio (11-7) is up against ONE Hero Series China winner Hu Yong (7-3), Jeremy Pacatiw (11-5) locks horns with Burmese striker Tial Thang (3-1) and Jenelyn Olsim (5-3) trades strikes with Chinese warrior Meng Bo (17-7). /