Even in the afterglow of his memorable victory over the legendary Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira on Saturday, Fabricio Werdum still considers his 2010 victory over Fedor Emelinanko his greatest accomplishment.
“It was definitely Fedor,” Werdum said through an interpeter at the UFC on Fuel 10 press conference.
Of course, one fight that could potentially top the win over “The Last Emperor” would be a UFC heavyweight title victory. And Werdum indicated that he’s willing to wait for the winner of the expected Cain Velasquez vs. Junior dos Santos trilogy fight, even if a long wait isn’t exactly ideal.
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“I gave the UFC the idea of doing a TUF in Mexico and I’d like to do it against Velasquez,” said Werdum. “But I don’t know if he’s going to beat Cigano. It’s going to be a very good fight, I know if I’ll go so long without fighting. I’ve been away for too long, I’ve already spent one year without fighting because I did TUF in Brazil so I wouldn’t like to do that again.”
But the bottom line, according to Werdum is that if “[The UFC says] winner does the Ultimate Fighter and then fights the champion, I’ll definitely do that, and I’ll be working out to fight the champion.”
Werdum acknowledged that he looked a bit out of sorts at times against “Big Nog” before recording the submission win on Saturday night, in part because he has been out of action nearly a year, a combination of injuries and his “TUF Brazil 2” coaching stint.
Still, there’s no taking away the sense of accomplishment in becoming the only fighter to defeat both Emelianenko and Nogueira.
“It’s never a perfect fight, it’s clear,” Werdum said. “Obviously I was happy to submit ‘Big Nog,’ but I’m sure I’m not at 100 percent yet.”