I don’t know if you heard, but Fabricio Werdum had a pretty interesting week in Australia.
First, there was the whole thing with Colby Covington and the boomerang. Trust me, it’s just as funny as it sounds.
The short version: Covington is trying hard to be what would happen if Chael Sonnen and Conor McGregor were able to make a baby, except not as smart and with a heaping helping of xenophobia.
Anyway, Covington cut a promo after his last win wherein he called all Brazilians “filthy animals,” which was pretty revolting, all things considered.
Werdum, being Brazilian, didn’t think this was funny. I know, right? What a surprise to find this out.
So when he came face-to-face with Covington in Australia during fight week, Werdum chucked a boomerang at Covington’s head. Yes, a boomerang. The thing you throw to yourself on a sandy beach.
I told you it was an interesting week in Australia.
Unfortunately, the interesting bits were all finished before the UFC card started on Saturday night.
Werdum capped off his week by going in the Octagon and participating in a lackluster sparring match with Marcin Tybura on a lackluster card.
Werdum was a late replacement for Mark Hunt, who was pulled from the fight for—depending on whose account you believe—writing about how his chosen career path has affected his brain or because he’s suing the UFC and the promotion’s president, Dana White, hates him. Take your pick. Either option is fair and logical.
The Brazilian, fresh off his win over Walt Harris at UFC 216, sauntered in the cage sporting his best dad bod and essentially cruised to an easy decision win over five insufferable rounds. For all the problematic things Werdum does outside the cage (his liberal usage of homophobic slurs in both real life and in his Instagram trolling and his penchant for finding himself in scuffles with much smaller men than himself), he is still a special athlete inside it.
Truth be told, he probably deserves serious consideration as one of the best heavyweights in the history of the sport, if not the best. He was the first man to truly beat Fedor Emelianenko, and he did it back when it was surprising and not just a thing that happened on a random Saturday night with regularity.
Werdum clearly remains a threat to any heavyweight on the planet—as long as he’s motivated. But on Saturday in Australia (well, Saturday in the U.S. and Sunday in Australia because of the time difference), Werdum collected a paycheck, fighting down to the lower half of the heavyweight division’s farcical top 10 rankings.
He went through the motions.
But that’s par for the course at events like this one, where it seems the UFC is promoting an event just because it is supposed to be promoting an event. Nights like this one, with hours upon hours of fight time and a maddeningly never-ending television broadcast, are one of the top complaints fans have about the sport. There’s just too much product.
Who can be expected to keep up with all of this? Even the most hardcore of those of a hardcore persuasion becomes jaded after being subjected to endless waves of fight cards that are filled to overflowing with mediocre talent.
Saturday’s co-main event featured Bec Rawlings taking on UFC debutant Jessica-Rose Clark. This was a bona fide contender for worst UFC co-main event of all time. And it gets worse with UFC Shanghai on Nov. 25, which might be the worst UFC card in history and is headlined by Michael Bisping despite Bisping being battered and finished by Georges St-Pierre as recently as Nov. 4.
Just as it’s time for Werdum to stop finding himself in squabbles with men he outweighs by 75 pounds, so too is it time for the UFC to take a step back. It’s time to trim the roster and to start making the product feel special again. It’s time to space things out, to give the fans time to anticipate and miss the product.
Because there was a time when I looked forward to seeing Fabricio Werdum in the Octagon.
Now?
It’s just another Saturday night.
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