Fabricio Werdum isn’t pleased with talks of a heavyweight title bout between two former foes.
After going on a four-fight winning streak, Werdum was set to meet Cain Velasquez at UFC 180 in Mexico City for the heavyweight title. Velasquez pulled out of the fight with an injury and “Vai Cavalo” settled for an interim title bout with Mark Hunt. Werdum blasted Hunt with a flying knee and followup punches to end the fight.
Werdum would go on to a unification bout against Velasquez. The Brazilian submission specialist had great success standing and it forced his opponent to go for a takedown. Werdum locked in a guillotine choke and forced the tap to become the new Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) heavyweight title holder.
Stipe Miocic would knock out Werdum to capture the belt, but “Vai Cavalo” rebounded with a dominant performance over Travis Browne. The former champion was left in limbo when his rematch with Velasquez went up in smoke.
Since then, the UFC has been in talks with Miocic and Junior dos Santos about having a title bout at UFC 211. Werdum told MMAJunkie.com that he doesn’t agree with the match-up:
“I don’t really think (Miocic vs. Dos Santos) is fair. Because I’m the last champ. Going by logic, there’s a (UFC) ranking, it’s there for a reason, and I’m the No. 1 (fighter). Obviously it’s not a tournament, but I imagined the fight with Velasquez that didn’t happen as a semifinal. It was between Cain and I, and whoever won would fight for the belt. That was practically a given. That’s what everybody saw.”
If a championship fight between Miocic and “Cigano” does materialize, it won’t be the first time the two have met inside the Octagon. Back in Dec. 2014, dos Santos took a controversial unanimous decision win over the Croatian bruiser at a UFC on FOX event.
