After his historic win over Cain Velasquez at UFC 188, the undisputed UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum plans to settle a few old scores. While many wonder who could be his next challenger in the now very interesting heavyweight division, Werdum has a very clear plan laid out already.
“I would like to fight (Andrei) Arlovski because it was a close fight, a split decision, an ugly fight that nobody liked, and I think I won,” Werdum told MMAFighting.com. He came up short against Arlovski at UFC 70 in 2007 and wants to make up for the loss now, before he moves on to the next man that beat him. “Arlovski next might be a good idea. After that, ‘Cigano’. But I take step by step. The next step is Arlovski, and then ‘Cigano’. I fought ‘Minotauro’ again, did well and won, and now it’s the rematch with Arlovski. ‘Cigano’ would be cool. But I got to focus on Arlovski first because he’s a former UFC champion and this fight will sell well.”
A young and rising Junior “Cigano” dos Santos knocked out Werdum at UFC 80 in 2008 and send him packing to Strikeforce, where the Brazilian BJJ expert scored his shocking victory over Fedor Emelianenko, that helped resurrecting his career. He is currently ranked number two in the UFC’s official rankings, but is currently out with a knee injury.
“I want this rematch with ‘Cigano’ because I was not a professional the first time we fought. Not taking anything away from him. He went there and knocked me out, and then he won the UFC title. He deserved it. But I learned a lot with it. That loss changed my entire career. It was either become a professional or stop fighting. That was when I decided to become a professional fighter.”
The changes he made in his life showed in recent performances against the likes of Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira, Travis Browne, Mark Hunt and, above all things, in his dominant submission victory over Velasquez. Werdum has offered the former champion an instant rematch initially, but after letting everything sink in, has decided against it and wants to concentrate on avenging a few of his losses.
“I talked about a rematch with Velasquez in respect,” he said. “He was a great champion and did a lot for the sport, so I was being respectful. But then I thought about it, the way the fight went… When it’s a close fight, when there’s doubt, or when it’s a quick finish, you do an immediate rematch. But I did everything I was planning to do and then got him with that guillotine. People saw there’s no need for rematch now.”
Another worthy challenger who staked out claims for a UFC title shot is number-three ranked Stipe Miocic, who, Werdum feels, would be an ideal opponent for Velasquez to earn himself another shot.
“It’s Arlovski now, ‘Cigano’ next, and then Velasquez again. That’s what I imagine,” Werdum said. “Cain will have to do one more fight, so I will fight Arlovski, Cain fights Miocic, and ‘Cigano’ is injured. That’s how I see it, but it’s up to them to earn it now.”