Brandon Vera has explained - kind of - why he decided to pull out of a rematch with Thiago Silva just as soon as it was announced.

Fight fans will remember how Silva battered Vera at UFC 125 last year and gave him a badly broken nose, plus an exit from the UFC for losing three fights in a row.

But then Silva failed a drug test and was suspended for 12 months, making the fight a no-contest and allowing Vera to return. Silva’s suspension expired January 1st this year and the UFC looked to rematch him with Vera, who beat Elliot Marshall in October to finally snap his losing streak.

Vera initially gave assent and the fight was announced for UFC on FX 3 in May - only for him to subsequently reconsider and withdraw from the bout. He took a lot of flak for the decision and has since offered the following explanation on Facebook:

“Hey everybody, it's Brandon ‘The Truth’ Vera here. I wanted to clear up some stuff, and apologize. I've been bugging my manager, I've been bugging Joe Silva and the UFC, so as soon as Thiago Silva's suspension was over and he was available, I would like to be the first one to fight him and get back in there with him. Kind of a welcome back thing.

“Finally the fight came, Joe said the fight can happen May 15th. My manager told me the fight is happening May 15th...and without thinking, without talking to my coaches, without talking to my doctors, I verbally said 'Yes, I'm down for the fight, let's do this, let's get it done. I'm in.' Super excited, hung up the phone, promptly went on a run, and got super excited.

“The next morning I went to my doctors after training and told my doctors that I was planning on fighting May 15th, and...everybody looked at me like I was crazy. They said there's no way I'll be ready by then, and I need to focus on getting better. So I sat down and was thinking 'Yeah, maybe those guys are right.'

“So I didn't check with my doctors, I didn't check with my coaches. I apologize to both you guys. I apologize to Joe Silva and my manager Matt Stansell. I apologize to my fans. I still wanna fight you bad Thiago, Thiago, however you say your name juice monkey. I still wanna fight you bad. So whenever you're ready, whenever I'm healthy enough, I'm your huckleberry.”

The more eagle-eyed reader will note that Vera has not actually stated specifically why his doctors feel he still needs to be ‘getting better’ but it is very likely linked to his UFC 137 fight. He was given a medical suspension until April 28th for a left-elbow ligament tear and it seems that this is still troubling him in some way.