UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum will go down as one of the greatest to ever compete in his division, and one of his defining wins is his 1st round armbar win over the great Fedor Emelianenko in Strikeforce back in 2010. With many fans considering Fedor’s cut stoppage loss as not really a loss, this was essentially the first “real” loss of Fedor’s illustrious career. Today, Werdum stands as the #1 HW in the world having submitted Cain Velasquez to capture the undisputed title, while Fedor is ready to return to action at the new Rizin FF after three years away from the sport.
On today’s episode of The MMA Hour, Werdum talked about the possibility of facing “The Last Emperor” again, this time in the UFC. As much as that interests him, he doesn’t believe right now that it will happen: (Transcription via MMA Fighting)
“I think it’s very hard,” Werdum said. “In Japan, the Japanese guys are very smart, maybe they sign with him for two, three years, I don’t know. I think it’s very hard to fight in the UFC. A lot of fans want to watch him fight there, you know, but I don’t know it will happen now.”
He also believes that Fedor will come back strongly, and that his hiatus from the sport was just a case of needing a break after his losing streak.
“Maybe the guys forgot Fedor very fast,” Werdum said. “Fedor stopped fighting because he needed this rest too. I needed rest to but maybe two months I’m good again, but Fedor has a lot of pressure with him. He lost (to) me in 2010, a lot of pressure. And then he lost again, he lost again, is no good. He needed rest. He rested like two or three years, I think he (will) come back very strong now. I say for the fans to respect Fedor because he’s a legend of the sport.”
Fedor Emelianenko’s opponent, initially rumored to be Jaideep Singh before those claims were shot down, has not been determined for his 12/31 headlining spot on Spike TV. Werdum will rematch Velasquez at some point in early 2016, but no date or venue has been set for that fight.
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