Fabricio Werdum may have been dropped by the UFC, but his self confidence is still intact.
The ace grappler has given his view on how he would fare against the current UFC Heavyweight championship.
He told tatame.com:
“I would kill Brock Lesnar. He isn’t guilty because they have put him there, but I would take him on the ground, tire him a lot and give him a ride. He has to get much experience, he’s a little crazy, haven’t got technique. He really goes to the fight, in brute force, but there comes a time that the gas ends. I would get him in a leg-lock, kimura, would get him... I would be making myself silly there, wait the gas end and submit him.”
As Werdum is no longer with the UFC, it is highly unlikely he will be getting a shot at Lesnar any time soon. The people on his radar are the Affliction heavies Andrei Arlovski, Josh Barnett and Fedor Emelianenko.
Werdum told tatame.com his preference:
“I would fight with anyone, but if I could choose, I would like to make a rematch with Arlovski. That fight wasn’t cool, it was a debut against an ex-champion. Some people said that I won, others that he won or tied, but I want a rematch with him and then fight with Fedor, which is the will of everyone, he is the best in the world. This thing of saying that Brock Lesnar is the best in the world doesn’t exist, I’m against that. The guy has four fights and is already the world champion? Everybody knows that Fedor is the best. In heavy, I think the best are in Affliction. Apart from Minotauro, the rest in the UFC are weak. The UFC has what he wanted, two Americans to fight the "final". The marketing is the most important thing, they are good at it. Frank Mir also, this final among them doesn’t exist.”
Werdum also has Fedor on his mind and is already working on his strategy, in case he finds himself matched against the world number one:
“I would do something really simple, try to put him down. It is difficult to get the fat go down, but I would be on top, passing the guard and mount, get a kimura... It is hard to beat Fedor in the ass, giving him punches down. It can happen, but it will be very difficult to punch him and stop him, you have to get him at a key for him to surrender. I think he lets his arm broke, but don’t hit. Must be in the neck to put him to sleep. I would train much Wrestling to put him down and, if I were below, I would be with a very close guard.”
Werdum’s game plan came up short in his last fight. He was blown away in just over minute of the first round of his bout with Junior dos Santos at UFC 90: Silva vs Cote. The Brazilian gave tatame.com his version of what happened that night:
“It wasn’t a mistake, but he surprised me. The strategy was to put him down, but I couldn’t try too fast because he would prevent the fall, then I had to make something up so he could think that I would strike with him, but was so fast that I couldn’t have enough time has to do my strategy. He really surprised me. I wouldn’t strike, but I waned him to think that I would. He must have trained hard to avoid the drop, the clich, but he came with a very strong punch. It was the hardest punch I took in my career, I had never been knocked out. Even more that I gave a step forward and down my head against his hand. I was in condition, was prepared. Some people said that I was out of shape, but I wasn’t, I did everything right in Curitiba, trained Muay Thai, ground, everything. I really hadn’t done the diet, then it seemed that I was out of shape, but I wasn’t. I would be sad if this had happened in the second or third round, if I had seen that he was over me, but I haven’t had time to show how good I was.”
