Don’t miss @FabricioWerdum
fights all season long on @canalCombate
in Brazil! pic.twitter.com/yu4qFgBHIp— PFL MMA (@ProFightLeague)
March 30, 2021
As he prepares to make his Professional Fighters League debut
against Renan
Ferreira on May 6, former UFC champion Fabricio
Werdum is excited that the organization’s events will be
broadcast on Brazil’s leading media company.
The PFL announced Tuesday that it has partnered with Globo, and the
company will carry the promotion’s regular season, playoff and
championship events beginning April 23 through Combate channel
platforms.
“It´s amazing to know that most MMA fans in Brazil will be able to
see me fighting,” Werdum told Sherdog.com. “I Have no doubt Combate
is the best fighting channel in the world, the only one dedicated
24 hours to MMA and combat sports. I got more excited when I found
out that my move to PFL was important to them to close the deal.
That just motivates me to train more to finish my career as PFL
heavyweight champion.”
Currently in California, where he rented an apartment from Cristiane
Justino in Huntington Beach, Werdum is training with master
Rafael
Cordeiro at Kings MMA in preparation to face the 6-foot-8
Ferreira.
“Renan is really tall, and I hired Dante “La Tarantula Mexicana”
Ceja, who is 6-foot-10 and weighs 285 pounds. This guy is
helping me a lot as well as Marvin
Vettori, Beneil
Dariush and Kevin Gastelum and all the professionals from Kings
MMA,” Werdum said.
As far as his strategy against the Team Nogueira fighter, Werdum
did not offer much in the way of detail.
“Renan is a pretty complete fighter, uses a lot of jabs to keep the
distance and also counter hits very well. His ground game is pretty
decent,” Werdum said. “The fans can expect a great debut
fight.”
Coincidentally, Renan “Problema” played the role of Werdum about
four months ago in a film about legendary jiu-jitsu fighter
Fernando Tererê that is finishing production in Brazil. Werdum
fought Tererê in a historical final at the 2004 World Jiu-Jitsu
championship. Werdum was unaware that Ferreira played him in the
film, but he hopes that his matchup with the towering Brazilian on
May 6 ends much the way his match with Tererê did in 2004.
“With Werdum winning and getting the gold,” he said with a
laugh.
Werdum added that he plans to end his MMA career under the PFL
banner in 2021.
“I always wanted to have more fights per year. PFL is giving me the
opportunity to have four fights in six months,” he said. “I´ll
fight every 6 weeks from May to October. I already conquered World
Jiu-Jitsu, ADCC, the UFC belt and it would be great to finish my
career as PFL heavyweight champion.”