In the opening moments of his main event bout against Fedor Emelianenko, Brazilian heavyweight Fabricio Werdum almost appeared to get knocked down by a punch.
Werdum talked with Tatame.com about that punch and clarified what happened.
Did his punch caused a knockdown or did you lose your balance and fall?
It wasn’t a knockdown, it was more like I lost my balance because of the punch, but I’d go for the ground anyway, so I felt on the ground wanting to go there. It wasn’t a knockdown, not at all. I felt the blow, but it wasn’t that strong, I just lost my balance.On that moment that you felt, did you already try to pull him to your guard?
We don’t think about being hit and going to the ground, but when you get hit by him, even if you are a Muay Thai fighter and have a good standing game strategy, it’s good for you to go to the ground and try to work it on there. The strategy was to calm him down and make some space so that I could work.
Werdum also noted that a rematch is still up in the air at the moment, which he’s fine with as he just wants to enjoy the moment of his victory.
After the fight you complimented Fedor and said you would like a rematch with him. Did (Strikeforce) say anything about that matter after the event?
No, they told me they’d see, so let’s enjoy this win and maybe they’ll put me to confront Overeem, but let’s see. I just beat the best of the world, I don’t want to give a step backwards and fight against Overeem. I want to fight against Fedor from 6 to 8 months from now in Russia, Rocky Balboa style.