The rematch between former UFC heavyweight champions Junior dos
Santos and Fabrício Werdum is attracting the attention of
Brazilian fans.
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The bareknuckle MMA fight, which will be the main event of
Gamebred Fighting Championship 5, takes place almost 15 years
after the first showdown and will be broadcast live on the Combate
channel in Brazil on Friday. In the first confrontation, at UFC 90
in October 2008, dos Santos made his debut in the promotion and
knocked out the favored Werdum, who was on the last fight of his
contract and close to a title shot.
“Since I lost, the UFC made an unreasonable proposal and ended up
forcing me to leave the promotion and restart my career at
Strikeforce,” Werdum told Sherdog.com.
This first fight and its ensuing consequences ended up forging a
great rivalry between Werdum and “Cigano. While dos Santos started
a meteoric career in the UFC, earning six more victories that would
culiminate in a first-round knockout of then champion Cain
Velasquez in 2011, Werdum would have to start from scratch at
Strikeforce, beating Mike Kyle,
Antonio
Silva and Fedor
Emelianenko — a major turning point in his career.
Despite all the exchanges of barbs over the past 15 years, Werdum
guarantees he won’t take it to the ring in Friday’s fight.
“I’m not worried about the past, I don’t think about it. The
business is 100% professional, zero personal, zero rivalry,” Werdum
said. “Those who live in the past are a museum.”
Werdum’s stance was a surprise to dos Santos.
“In fact, the rivalry was created by Werdum himself, due to the way
he portrayed himself in relation to me with controversial
statements,” dos Santos told
Combate.com. “And this time I really liked what I saw. A very
centered, very calm Werdum, and focused on the main thing, which is
to put on a great fight, a good show for the crowd to watch, and
without trash talk. This time, the way I see it is interesting, and
it makes me even more excited to be well prepared and expect a
Werdum that is also well prepared.”
Since their first meeting occurred 15 years ago, “Cigano” believes
the first encounter will have little impact on the rematch.
“It was an extremely important fight for my career, if not the most
important one. So I remember everything very well,” dos Santos
said. “But we are completely different athletes. But one thing that
doesn’t change is the approach. He’s a grappler and I’m a striker,
that’s still the same. But I think that as athletes we evolved in
some senses, maybe we changed in other senses, or regressed in
others, but that’s why I say it’s not even a rematch, it’s a second
fight. It’s another fight, much later. I don’t think they have
anything to do with each other. anything can happen, especially for
heavyweights.”
Still, dos Santos is confident he can repeat history and knock out
his rival once again.
“I see it that way,” dos Santos said. “Even in the beginning I see
him wanting to trade a little more, but as soon as he starts to
feel the hands, he will start looking for the takedown. My
intention is to knock him out again.”