Fabricio Werdum was not on my list of favorite fighters coming into last night—he still isn’t, but I like him a little more now than I did yesterday. His win over Mike Russow last night at UFC 147 was the most meaningful result to come out of a whack card.
Werdum is the man I watched lie on his back every time he got in close quarters against Alistair Overeem in Strikeforce. He wanted to invite the Reem to the ground, but his methods were terrible.
He lost that fight because he did nothing, and rightfully so. Check out these ridiculous highlights:
His career has been up-and-down in the past two years. He was the man that gave legendary Fedor Emelianenko his first loss in 10 years, and then he was the guy that literally laid down against Overeem.
Last night in Brazil, Werdum did something in front of his countrymen. He scored only the fifth KO of his MMA career by stopping Russow’s 11-fight win streak.
Russow had not tasted defeat in four UFC bouts, and seven MMA clashes in other organizations before last night.
It didn’t take Werdum long to make his statement.
In a striking contrast to the man we saw fight like a protester against Overeem, Werdum was on the attack from the beginning. He launched a good variety of knees and punches, and the activity may have caught Russow off-guard.
Just under two-and-a-half minutes into the fight, Werdum landed a solid uppercut and Russow went down. Werdum pounded him out and referee Herb Dean moved in for the stoppage.
That’s the type of performance that will have UFC fans wanting to see Werdum again. He is a skilled fighter, but his approach against Overeem left me sour on him.
Now Werdum is in the heavyweight title picture, but the question is, will he go back to his old mat-laying ways against big strikers like Junior dos Santos if he gets the opportunity?
We’ll have to see, but for now, he has some redemption in my eyes.
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