With a Round 1 TKO of Mike Russow on Saturday night, Fabricio Werdum was the biggest and most impressive winner of UFC 147.
Ranked No. 5 in the world by MMA Weekly in early June, Werdum has quickly revived his career in 2012. To that end, let’s check out why he was the ultimate victor this past weekend.
Recent Results
The victory over Russow was not only extremely impressive, but Werdum has now won five times in his last six fights after going just 5-4 from October of 2005 through June of 2011.
Also, the knockout of Russow was the quickest match of the night. Werdum, in other words, is back in full force mode and hitting a rhythm of confidence that will be tough for anyone to equal. For his career Werdum is only 16-5-1, so tacking on some more wins is needed to better his title shot odds.
That being said, time is also of the essence with Werdum because he’ll be 35 years old in July. Although we’ve seen more than a few fighters last until their late-30s, prime form is a rarity at that stage. Werdum, however, has proven to defy his age with impressive recent success.
Defying Age
If there’s anything we’ve learned from Werdum’s quick win over Russow, it’s that age is just a number.
Then again, Werdum also only fought four times between 2009 and 2011 so he’s not nearly as worn down as others his age either. To some extent, that brief time lapse where he didn’t fight has rejuvenated Werdum’s career.
He had won both fights in 2009 and the one in 2010, but the 2011 loss to Alistair Overeem was a reality check. Werdum then had a strong performance against Roy Nelson earlier in 2012 and began to build momentum.
Too many times have we see athletes (of any sport) retire too soon or too late. Fortunately for Werdum, he’s currently not in that boat despite turning 35 next month. Werdum is 7-2 in his last nine fights and does not appear to be slowing down.
Future Opportunities
One major motivating factor that we can see from Werdum’s recent fights is his drive to compete. And not just to compete as a fighter, but compete for the heavyweight title.
Never has Werdum been given a title shot and it’s the one thing every pro athlete wants in their respective sport. Well, it’s easy to look at Werdum now and say he deserves that opportunity. He’s fighting arguably better now than ever before and winning in convincing fashion.
Now look back at the previous sections that mention his recent results and age, and we have to expect Werdum’s title shot to happen sooner than later. And as long as he continues to rock opponents like he did Russow, that title shot feels like a foregone conclusion.
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