Fabricio Werdum took on Walt Harris at the last minute, but he didn’t take the situation lightly.
Werdum was supposed to meet Derrick Lewis inside the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada last night (Oct. 7) at UFC 216. Lewis was pulled from the card due to back issues on the day of the fight. Harris offered to step up and Werdum took the fight. “Vai Cavalo” earned a quick submission win.
Speaking to the media, Werdum said the decision was far from easy to make (via MMAFighting.com):
“It’s such a hard decision. Imagine three hours before, I just have my room, I just come to the arena, and my manager Ali (Abdel-Aziz) calls me and says, ‘Your fight is canceled.’ Imagine everything is good coming to the arena — and at first I’m very sad, but my manager called me again. Two minutes later, he called me, ‘Werdum, I have one more guy,’ maybe one more fight for me. ‘Harris.’ I say, ‘Yes, just one second, Ali.’”
The former heavyweight champion explained why it was difficult to say “yes” at first.
“I (talked with my team). This is a very hard decision. Because you prepare your body, strategy, everything for one guy, for Derrick Lewis, for three months, and three hours (before the fight you) change everything.”
