I think that this is Brandon Vera's chance to move up to Contender Status but i honestly feel that even though Vera has sick striking he's still gun-shy and hasn't been attacking and hasn't been as agressive as when he was at Heavyweight. For this fight he needs to work on his ground defense, specifically work off his back and takedown defense because that's where Couture is gonna take the fight and Vera has shown that he can get mounted fairly easy and has poor takedown defense and not so good defense off his back BUT he does have decent sub skills but only when he's on top.
Couture is problably the smartest MMA Fighter ever, he always attacks his opponents weaknesses and does his best to avoid their strengths which is why at his age he still has been able to hold his own. He;s for sure going to try and take Vera down and "Couture" his way to victory which he certainly can. Vera better be ready to attack and push the pace on Couture because if he does that i think he'll be able to get Couture to gas fast and problably score a tko or ko but i still think that Couture is strong enough and because of all of his experience he'll be able to control Vera on the ground and problably score a ref stoppage. If Couture decides to stand i will be very surprised because Vera is young, fast and really skilled with his kicks and overall strikes and for sure will drop Couture if Couture is unable to take the fight to the ground. I'm sure that Vera will win but Couture is "Couture" so i'm not counting him out at all. If Couture can take the fight to the ground i feel he'll either score a ref stoppage(especially if it's Mirgliatta) or score a tko, if Vera can avoid the ground he'll for sure score a tko or ko, this fight will not go all 3 rounds.
Vera via tko or ko