UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum is ready to defend his title. And he doesn’t want to wait until March of 2016.
At the UFC 191 post-fight press conference in Las Vegas this past weekend, UFC president Dana White said that Werdum would likely defend his title against former champion Cain Velasquez in March.
“Unfortunately, this heavyweight division is tied up right now,” White said. “This fight won’t happen probably until March, the next heavyweight [title] defense. So we’ll see how this thing plays out, and we’ll go from there.”
Asked why so far off, White said it was because, “that’s when Werdum wants to fight.”
Yet according to a report on UFC Tonight, Werdum’s management refutes having said that he wants to wait until March to defend his title. His management team, Dominance MMA, said that they informed the UFC that he would be ready to fight again in either December or January.
The then-interim champion Werdum married the heavyweight titles with an upset victory over Velasquez at UFC 188 in June, scoring a third-round submission (guillotine). Though the heavyweight division is currently stacked with contenders, the UFC opted to give Velasquez an immediate rematch.
UFC 188 took place in Mexico City, Mexico, at over 7,000 feet in elevation. Velasquez, who wasn’t as acclimated as Werdum, appeared to gas early.