Following final fight on UFC contract, Werdum calls for Emelianenko rematch

Fabricio Werdum may be leaving the UFC, but don’t think he’s done with his fight career. From the sound of things, he’s excited to become a gunslinger for hire and one showdown he’s got his eye on is a rematch with fellow heavyweight legend Fedor Emelianenko.

Werdum was the man who snapped Fedor’s legendary 10 year, 27-fight undefeated streak at the very top of the heavyweight division in June of 2010. Emelianenko has gone a respectable 8-3 since that defeat and continues to compete for Bellator, where we assume a rematch would go down.

“This, 100 percent,” Werdum said when asked about Fedor. “I want to fight with Fedor, 100 percent. I respect him a lot. I want to give this opportunity to him to fight with me again. This has history! Me vs. Fedor in 2010. Ten years later everybody wants to see this fight. I don’t know where, but for sure I want to fight with Fedor because I respect him. In my mind, he is the best in the world.”

Werdum didn’t close the door completely on a return to the UFC, but has been very consistent coming into the final fight on his contract against Alexander Gustafsson (which he won 2:30 into the first round with an armbar, watch it here) that he wanted to test out free agency.

“I don’t say no because I have to talk to Ali first,” Werdum said, referring to his manager Ali Abdelaziz.

“Sometimes you lose the last fight in the UFC, and it’s like everything changes, you know?” Werdum said. “I don’t know if I’m staying in the UFC or not or maybe with a different one. I won’t stop. One hundred percent I’m not stopping. I have a couple fights. I told you before, I’m very young. My mind is young.”

Werdum is 42 and came into Fight Island on a two fight skid, but proved he’s still as dangerous as ever by handing Gustafsson a submission loss for the Swede’s heavyweight debut. A two year USADA suspension also took valuable time off his clock, sitting him on the bench from March of 2018 to May of 2020. He’s now 1-1 since his return, following a razor thin split decision loss to Alexey Oleynik at UFC 249.