Fabricio Werdum (14-5-1) will return to the UFC for the first time since losing to Junior dos Santos at UFC 90 to take on Ultimate Fighter winner and top-10 heavyweight Roy “Big Country” Nelson (16-6) at UFC 143, according to MMAweekly.com.
UFC 143 will go down at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas on February 4.
Werdum was last seen losing to Alistair Overeem in a semifinal bout of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix earlier this year. Victories over Fedor Emelianenko, Mike Kyle and Antonio Silva preceded that loss.
When Werdum lost to a then-unknown heavyweight in dos Santos in 2008, his contract was terminated by the UFC. The Brazilian power-puncher went on to win the UFC heavyweight championship at UFC on FOX 1 when he stopped Cain Velasquez and is yet to be beaten inside the Octagon.
Nelson recently broke a two-fight losing streak when he stopped Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic at UFC 137. His losses to Frank Mir and Junior dos Santos left many wondering how serious he had been taking his career.
UFC 143 will be headlined by an interim welterweight championship bout between top contenders Carlos Condit and Nick Diaz.
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