Forever the underdog, Fabricio Werdum says Bethe Correia can upset Ronda Rousey

RIO DE JANEIRO — Bethe Correia would score one of the biggest upsets in UFC history with a win over Ronda Rousey at UFC 190 in Brazil, and an expert on shocking the world gives her advice ahead of tonight’s fight.

Fabricio Werdum, who ignored the odds and beat the likes of Fedor Emelianenko and Cain Velasquez throughout his MMA career, admits “Rowdy” is the favorite, but roots for the fellow Brazilian.

“I’m 100 percent rooting for Bethe, but we know Ronda is a level above,” Werdum told the media in Rio de Janeiro. “My advice for her is ‘follow your strategy, don’t lose your mind’. For what I saw on the workouts, Brazilians love Ronda. I don’t know if the crowd will be pro-Bethe, I believe it will be split.

“Confidence comes with training,” he continued. “When you train well, you get confident. It happened with me in the past that I was not well trained for a reason, like an injury, and I started talking a lot to fool myself, to show everyone that I’m fine, but I was not. It happened with me, and it also happened with my opponents, like when Javier Mendez started talking about Cain giving me a worst beating than he did to Junior dos Santos.”

Rousey has only gone past the first round once in her entire MMA career, and Werdum believes cardio could be the key for Correia to shock the world.

“Maybe Ronda doesn’t pick up her rhythm and loses a cardio battle, or maybe Bethe connects a heavy hand,” Werdum said. “By the way she speaks, I see she’s very confident.”

The UFC heavyweight champion “Vai Cavalo” believes no UFC fighter is at Rousey’s level, but that doesn’t mean “Vai Cavalo” thinks she’s the best female fighter on the planet.

“I think Ronda is a level above every UFC fighter, but not Cris Cyborg,” he said. “Cris Cyborg is the best fighter in the world. Ronda is excellent, of course. Everybody knows Ronda will take you down and go for the armbar, but no one can stop her from doing this. A fight between Ronda and Cris is what everybody wants to watch.”

RIO DE JANEIRO — Bethe Correia would score one of the biggest upsets in UFC history with a win over Ronda Rousey at UFC 190 in Brazil, and an expert on shocking the world gives her advice ahead of tonight’s fight.

Fabricio Werdum, who ignored the odds and beat the likes of Fedor Emelianenko and Cain Velasquez throughout his MMA career, admits “Rowdy” is the favorite, but roots for the fellow Brazilian.

“I’m 100 percent rooting for Bethe, but we know Ronda is a level above,” Werdum told the media in Rio de Janeiro. “My advice for her is ‘follow your strategy, don’t lose your mind’. For what I saw on the workouts, Brazilians love Ronda. I don’t know if the crowd will be pro-Bethe, I believe it will be split.

“Confidence comes with training,” he continued. “When you train well, you get confident. It happened with me in the past that I was not well trained for a reason, like an injury, and I started talking a lot to fool myself, to show everyone that I’m fine, but I was not. It happened with me, and it also happened with my opponents, like when Javier Mendez started talking about Cain giving me a worst beating than he did to Junior dos Santos.”

Rousey has only gone past the first round once in her entire MMA career, and Werdum believes cardio could be the key for Correia to shock the world.

“Maybe Ronda doesn’t pick up her rhythm and loses a cardio battle, or maybe Bethe connects a heavy hand,” Werdum said. “By the way she speaks, I see she’s very confident.”

The UFC heavyweight champion “Vai Cavalo” believes no UFC fighter is at Rousey’s level, but that doesn’t mean “Vai Cavalo” thinks she’s the best female fighter on the planet.

“I think Ronda is a level above every UFC fighter, but not Cris Cyborg,” he said. “Cris Cyborg is the best fighter in the world. Ronda is excellent, of course. Everybody knows Ronda will take you down and go for the armbar, but no one can stop her from doing this. A fight between Ronda and Cris is what everybody wants to watch.”