Stipe Miocic’s manager had some choice words about Fabricio Werdum’s abrupt pullout from UFC 196.
It’s been a weird few days for UFC 196. The card was scheduled to see Fabricio Werdum defending his UFC heavyweight title in the headliner, rematching Cain Velasquez. Unfortunately for Velasquez, a back injury wasn’t getting better and he was forced to pull himself from the fight. The UFC quickly announced that top contender Stipe Miocic would replace him, and we still had a title fight.
Until today, when Werdum decided to pull out with an injury too.
To make things even worse, he said that if Cain had stayed in the fight, he would have as well. Against Miocic though? Not so much.
As you can expect, Miocic’s manager Greg Kalikas was not happy with Werdum. He spoke to MMA Fighting via text and did not mince words:
“We’re extremely disappointed to hear that Werdum is pulling out of the fight. If he’s [Werdum is] healthy enough to defend against Cain, we can’t understand why he’s not healthy enough to fight Stipe, who would only have 12 days to prepare for him as it stands.
“A champion shouldn’t pick and choose opponents. A true champion fights all comers. If he won’t fight Stipe with a short camp, are we supposed to believe he’d fight Stipe coming off a full training camp? No, he wouldn’t… and that’s a bad look for the supposed best heavyweight on the planet. All we can hope is that Werdum ‘heals’ up quick and will agree to fight Stipe sooner rather than later.”
As of this minute, UFC 196 doesn’t have a headlining bout. And it’s 12 days away. Just another day on the UFC rollercoaster.