Photo by Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Images
The former heavyweight champion says ‘it’s the worst’ feeling knowing he could’ve done a lot more during his UFC 249 bout against Aleksei Oleinik.
Fabricio Werdum has expressed his disappointment towards his performance at UFC 249, after losing a split decision to Aleksei Oleinik.
After losing the first round decisively, one judge scored the second round for Werdum but the other two judges scored it for Oleinik. The fight was the former heavyweight champion Werdum’s first since March 2018 after serving a two-year USADA suspension.
Talking to MMA Fighting after his bout with Oleinik, Werdum was critical of his performance.
“I was moving a lot in training, not letting him do his game, but I accepted it completely (in the fight),” Werdum said. “I stopped, I choked hard. Get hit and do nothing? What?
“I showed I can take a punch, you have to do a lot to defeat me. I’ll never quit, say, ‘No more.’ You wanna take me out, you have to put me in a submission or knock me out, OK. But I’ll never stop fighting back. My heart was there, but I was in automatic [mode] in the first round. I was a bit off.”
The 42-year-old is now without a win since 2017. With one fight left on his current deal, Werdum’s future in the promotion is somewhat up in the air.
“Even if I had won, I would be happy with the win, but not happy with my performance, you know? I know I can do more. I’m 42, but I know I can do a lot more. It’s the worst [feeling] when you know you can do more but couldn’t do it, especially because everything that happened, this whole situation (the coronavirus pandemic).”