If there was ever a great day to be named Fabricio Werdum, this is that day, without question.
He’s facing off against the Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion Alistair Overeem in a rematch of their 2006 bout in PRIDE, he has the momentum of a decisive win against Fedor Emelienenko on his shoulders, and he’s got a chance to cement his status as one of the top two pound-for-pound best Heavyweights in the world in front of a packed madhouse in Dallas, Texas—my stomping grounds.
He also likes the idea of what the purchase of Strikeforce means for his future, as well as the potential behind his rematch with one Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva and rings being used instead of cages, but when it comes to his rematch with the champ next weekend in the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix quarterfinals as part of Strikeforce’s inaugural outing in Dallas, the rest of the discussions are obsolete.
The only thing on Fabricio Werdum’s mind other than his fight with Alistair Overeem is finishing his fight with Alistair Overeem.
When it comes to the UFC-Strikeforce deal and with Georges St-Pierre set to fight Nick Diaz at UFC 137 this, Werdum admits, “I like that I might fight Junior [Dos Santos] again.”
He knows that when you remove his PRIDE Shockwave 2006 win over Overeem and his “Upset of the Century”-level victory by Triangle-Armbar over Fedor Emelienenko—an upset that will be officially one year to the day when June 26th rolls around—the one memory of Werdum that fans easily remember is his knockout loss to the UFC 131 headliner by right uppercut at UFC 90—the last fight Werdum ever had under the Zuffa banner until now.
He is aware of that, and while he would like to fight Dos Santos again and then unify the Strikeforce and UFC Heavyweight titles, he knows it’s not going to happen unless he goes 2-0 against Overeem next weekend.
What gives him the confidence that he will do so?
Simple, it’s June, and that’s his month.
“June is my month because I beat Fedor (Emelianenko) too…and I’m excited for this fight. I’m training a lot. Just you wait for this fight.”
Actually, the win over Fedor was not the only time that Werdum has risen to the occasion on a day that happened to be in the month of June.
His UFC 85 TKO win over Brandon Vera and his MMA debut win over Tengiz Tedoradze at Millenium Brawl 7 happened in the month of June–the win over Tedoradze happened on June 16th, 2002, while the UFC 85 card, complete with Werdum’s win, happened on June 7th, 2008.
If Werdum can implement his ability against Overeem once again, it will be the fourth time in Werdum’s career that he has been successful in the month of June, and then Werdum might really be able to say that June is his month.
Source: MMAJunkie.com
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