After arriving in Curitiba, Brazil, to begin training for his
Global Fight League debut, Fabricio
Werdum learned that proposed opponent Frank Mir had
recently undergone
emergency spinal surgery.
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Mir is unlikely to be able to recover in time for their fight in
April, when his team (Los Angeles) is set to face Werdum’s Team São
Paulo in the inaugural GFL event.
“I heard about this news from you. Now I’m waiting for the event to
confirm who my opponent will be, [Alexei] Oleynik or [Andrei]
Arlovski,” Werdum told Sherdog.com. “Both would be rematches, but
since they have opposing styles, it would be important to know
right at the start of the camp. I’ve stopped all my projects,
podcasts and lectures to focus entirely on the camp for this fight.
This will be a wonderful opportunity to return to my roots, when I
used to come by bus from Porto Alegre and stay in Curitiba at the
Chute Boxe dormitory. Master Rafael
Cordeiro is on the plane from LA to lead this camp alongside
Dida. Wanderlei will also help me.”
The former UFC heavyweight champion also analyzed Ankalaev’s
victory over Alex
Pereira in the main event of UFC
313.
“I agreed with the result, but it was really down to the details,”
Werdum said. “The Russian imposed his tactics. If Poatan [was]
moving forward, as he always does, it makes it easier for him to
take him down, but moving backward, it made it harder for him to
get [inside]. So much so that he attempted 12 takedowns and didn’t
convert any of them. On the other hand, he managed to neutralize
‘Poatan’s’ strong point. I believe that ‘Poatan’ will come out
differently in the rematch. Let’s wait and see.”
Using his own experience as an example, Werdum recalled how
Brazilian fans completely changed their attitude after a champion’s
defeat.
“The day before my fight with [Stipe] Miocic in Curitiba [at UFC
198], I couldn’t walk down the hotel street. People would be
shouting at me from the windows. If I left the hotel, a crowd would
come after me. The next day, after my defeat, I went down to lunch
with my team and walked to the restaurant and no one came to even
talk to me,” he said. “‘Poatan’ will now get to know this other
side, but I’m sure as a great champion that he is, he will continue
to train hard and improve. That’s what matters. Getting this belt
back will just be a consequence.”
A former UFC heavyweight champion, two-time BJJ world champion and
ADCC champion, Werdum is currently 47 years old. His MMA record is
24-10-1 with one no contest, and he has notable victories over the
likes of Fedor
Emelianenko, Cain
Velasquez, Mark Hunt,
Antonio
Rodrigo Nogueira, Alistair
Overeem and Roy Nelson,
among others. His last fight came in September 2023, when he was
defeated by compatriot Junior dos Sanots in a bare-knuckle MMA bout
at Gamebred Bareknuckle MMA 5.