Heavyweight fighter Fabricio Werdum (14-5-1) will return to the UFC and he’ll do it against TUF 10 winner, Roy ‘Big Country’ Nelson (16-6).
Rumors of the bout surfaced last week, with both fighters confirming the matchup on Tuesday.
UFC 143: Diaz vs. Condit is scheduled to take place on Februar 4 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. The bout between Werdum and Nelson will certainly take place on the evenings pay-per-view card.
Werdum returns to the Octagon on a loss, having been eliminated from the Strikeforce Heavyweight World Grand Prix tournament last June by Alistair Overeem. It was a re-match for the two fighters, with Werdum taking the first fight by submission in 2006, and Overeem winning this bout by unanimous decision. The loss ended a three fight win streak, which had the Brazilian coming off his biggest win, a submission victory over Fedor Emelianenko in June 2010. Werdem had his last fight in the UFC back in October 2008 at UFC 90, which ended with him losing to Junior dos Santos by first round knockout.
Nelson fought in October, ending a two fight losing skid by stopping Mirko ‘Cro Cop’ Filipovic by third round TKO at UFC 137. Nelson had been highly criticized for his conditioning in his previous two losses, to Frank Mir at UFC 130 and to Junior dos Santos at UFC 117, coming into UFC 137 in much better shape by finishing his Croatian opponent. ‘Big Country’ is now 3-2 in the UFC which includes winning season ten of “The Ultimate Fighter.”