Fabricio Werdum wants to return by December or January—as many as three months earlier than UFC President Dana White‘s recent claim that the heavyweight champion didn’t want to fight again until March.
That’s according to Werdum’s own team, passed along Wednesday night by cable TV program UFC Tonight (h/t Chuck Mindenhall of MMA Fighting).
So, Fabricio Werdum is down to fight in Dec. or Jan., per @arielhelwani. Doesn’t know where the ‘waiting until March’ thing came from.
— Shaheen Al-Shatti (@shaunalshatti) September 10, 2015
While addressing reporters following UFC 191 on September 5, White said the heavyweight title picture was “tied up” until March, because “that’s when Werdum wants to fight.”
The reason, or reasons, for the contradictory claims was not immediately clear.
At UFC 188 in June, then-interim champion Werdum (20-5-1) submitted longtime lineal champ Cain Velasquez (13-2) to unify the title. It was only the second professional loss for Velasquez, who has battled injuries over the years and has only competed five times in the past three years, which raised the need for an interim belt.
Following the win, the UFC issued Werdum a six-month injury suspension, pending a clean bill of health on his right knee, right thumb and nasal cavity. If Wednesday night’s timeline correction from Camp Werdum is indeed accurate, he would appear to be returning at or around the minimal allotted time off.
Werdum, 38, has enjoyed a late-career renaissance in the UFC heavyweight division.
After a lackluster 2-2 run with the company in 2007 and 2008, Werdum spent two years with Strikeforce. His final bout for that promotion was a loss to Alistair Overeem in the quarterfinals of the heavyweight grand prix.
However, since returning to the UFC in February 2012, Werdum has displayed vastly improved striking to complement his world-class Brazilian jiu-jitsu and has gone six-for-six in the process.
Werdum defeated Mark Hunt at UFC 180 to capture the interim belt and set up the unification title with Velasquez. Both the interim and unification title bouts occurred in Mexico City.
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