Brazilian heavyweight, and former Strikeforce tournament quarterfinalist, Fabricio Werdum (14-5-1) will reportedly make his return to the Octagon this coming February against TUF 10 winner Roy ‘Big Country’ Nelson (16-6).
News of the matchup comes via MMAWeekly.com who say the two are set to meet on Super Bowl weekend at UFC 143 this coming February.
Werdum had been campaigning to make his return to the UFC after a three year absence, by utilizing Twitter and video to generate fan interest. He and another TUF 10 fighter, Brendan Schaub, had been trading some verbal jabs hoping to book a fight between themselves for UFC 142 in Brazil.
Now it appears the Brazilian is set to return, just not the venue or the opponent he’d been asking for.
Werdum will enter his next fight on a loss, losing a lackluster fight versus Alistair Overeem last June in their opening quarterfinal bout of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix. Overeem would win a decision in the match, ending Werdum’s three fight win streak. All three victories came after his last fight in the UFC, a KO loss to Junior dos Santos at UFC 90. Werdum earned wins over Mike Kyle, Antonio Silva, and his famous “Upset of the Year” victory over Fedor Emelianenko.
Nelson’s career was on the ropes after two losses and a poor performance against Frank Mir last May at UFC 130. ‘Big Country’ redeemed himself by getting himself into better shape and finishing Mirko ‘Cro Cop’ Filipovic at UFC 137 last October, earning a third round TKO victory against the Croatian fighter. In the Octagin Nelson is 3-2 with the loss before Mir coming to Junior dos Santos, while the other two wins were over Stevan Struve at UFN 21 and Schaub in the TUF 10 Finale.
Werdum better hope to put in a good performance against Nelson, as a poor defeat will assuredly see him get shown the door. Nelson, meanwhile will likely take a page out of Werdum’s last opponents playbook, and will look to keep the fight standing. ‘Big Country’ will stand a much better chance on the ground than Overeem would have, but it’s a solid strategy against Werdum’s likely plan of attack.