A UFC undisputed heavyweight champion will be crowned Saturday in Mexico City, Mexico. Reigning champion Cain Velasquez will finally take on interim champion Fabricio Werdum to earn the right to be referred to as the baddest man on the planet.
Per Odds Shark, the early odds say Velasquez is going to squash the 37-year-old Brazilian. Velasquez is a 6-25 favorite to win ahead of Friday’s weigh-in. Werdum is no stranger to being counted out.
Most didn’t give him a shot to beat Fedor Emelianenko back in 2010. Werdum ultimately submitted the MMA legend to hand him his first loss in 10 years.
Emelianenko was on the downside of his career, though, when he lost to Werdum. Velasquez is seemingly still in his prime, despite injuries that have kept him out of the Octagon for nearly two years. The bout with Werdum was originally supposed to take place in November 2014, but a knee injury forced Velasquez out of the fight.
Mark Hunt took his place, and since this was the latest in a long line of injuries for Velasquez, the UFC decided to make the battle between Hunt and Werdum an interim title scrap. Werdum stopped the rugged Samoan with a flying knee and cemented his status as the best heavyweight not named Velasquez.
At first, the pre-fight hype seemed to be going over without much animosity, but Werdum made some comments about Velasquez’s lack of traditional Mexican heritage, and the bad blood was born. Per BJPenn.com, Werdum said Velasquez isn’t “Mexican, Mexican” because he was born in the United States.
Velasquez didn’t take kindly to the comments and addressed them in an interview with MMA Fighting:
What does all this mean for the fight? Probably nothing, but it should create a potentially more aggressive and agitated Velasquez. That may not be a good thing for the champion—and perhaps the dig was by design from Werdum.
Werdum wants to counter and use Velasquez’s aggression against him. While Velasquez is known for his ground-and-pound game, there is no heavyweight in the world who is better off his back than Werdum. His submission of Emelianenko came in the same situation.
The Brazilian’s striking has also vastly improved over the last five years. His boxing, kicks and knee strikes have led to TKO and unanimous-decision wins over the likes of Hunt and Travis Browne, respectively. Conditioning could also play a role in this bout.
Velasquez is known as Cardio Cain because of his legendary conditioning, but he is coming back from a serious layoff and fighting in the high altitudes of Mexico—a place he’s spent less time in than his opponent.
Fox Sports’ Elias Cepeda agrees:
The big question will be how Velasquez’s body and conditioning hold up. The champion is coming off of just the latest long layoff due to injury of many throughout his career.
He insists that he’s feeling fine, but no one will know for sure until he runs that engine in the Octagon on fight night. Velasquez has the division’s best conditioning but he’s also spent far less time near Mexico City adjusting to the thin air of the megapolis’ high altitude than Werdum has.
Velasquez originally thought he didn’t need to get to Mexico early at all before the fight. He was dead wrong.
Call me crazy, but I’m tabbing Werdum for the massive upset in this bout. Big men traditionally have harder times overcoming knee injuries, Werdum’s skill set is a match for Velasquez’s and the Brazilian is smart. This is the formula for a shocker.
Follow Brian Mazique on Twitter.
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com