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Fabricio Werdum hints at the possibility of a rematch with Fedor Emelianenko following his submission win over Alexander Gustafsson.
UFC on ESPN 14 marked the last fight on Fabricio Werdum’s contract, and the former heavyweight champion went out with a bang.
Werdum, 42, submitted former light heavyweight title challenger Alexander Gustafsson with an armbar in the first round, proving that he is still one of the most dangerous grapplers in the UFC.
It isn’t a definite that Werdum will pursue free agency following his win over Gustafsson, but the Brazilian strongly hinted that it was probably his last fight in the premiere MMA promotion.
“The emotion was because this is my last fight in the UFC,” Werdum said at the post-fight press conference (h/t MMA Junkie). “I had many years with the UFC. I don’t know how many I had with the UFC, like 10 years (or) 12 years. You know? I’m a working individual – on Spanish commentaries. I think almost all of my life was here. I love UFC for sure. I want to say thank you to the UFC for many things.”
Asked about the possibility of signing with Bellator MMA for a rematch with heavyweight legend Fedor Emelianenko, ‘Vai Cavalo’, who pulled off a shock submission win over Emelianenko at a Strikeforce event in 2010, said he is definetely interested in the matchup.
“This is 100 percent (true),” Werdum said. “I want to fight with Fedor, 100 percent. I respect him a lot. I want to give this opportunity to him to fight with me again. This has history: Me vs. Fedor in 2010. Ten years later, everybody wants to see this fight. I don’t know where, but for sure I want to fight with Fedor because I respect him. In my mind, he is the best in the world.”
Emelianenko hasn’t fought since his first-round TKO victory over Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson at Bellator 237 in December of last year.