The former UFC heavyweight champion sounds like he’s fed up with the UFC after a failed USADA drug test got him suspended from competition for two years.
As the UFC’s relationship with USADA continues, and even appears to be growing, some notable fighters are starting to find that the benefits to a comprehensive drug testing program may not outweigh the cost. Especially when they’re the ones getting caught up in the wave of drug test failures.
Back in May of 2018, former heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum tested positive for the banned substance Trenbolone. As a result of his positive test – and an apparent unwillingness to turn informer – ‘Vai Cavalo’ ended up with a two-year suspension from competition. A strong punishment, made all the stronger by the fact that the 41-year old likely doesn’t have that many years left as an elite competitor in combat sports.
And it’s one that Werdum sounds like he’s looking to avoid serving if at all possible. If not within the UFC, then outside it; overseas where he’s highly unlikely to run into any commission interference in his fighting career.
”What I would really like right now is to be free, that the UFC would have consideration with me and release me,” Werdum said in a recent interview with Portal do Vale Tudo (transcript via MMAFighting). “It’s a matter of Ali talking with (White) now. Ali really has a good friendship with Dana White. It’s not only up to Dana. They always say that, and I go talk to someone else and they say it’s not only up to them as well, it’s that game. I obviously love fighting in the UFC, but after this (situation), this unfair doping, I would like to fight in other promotions.”
”I already told the UFC, I’ll sign a term that I would not fight in the United States anymore,” Werdum said. “I’d fight overseas, Japan, Russia, Europe, wherever, but I wouldn’t fight in the United States to cause no harm. I would sign that to be released. I just want to be free to do what I want, which is fight. It’s not about money. I still have a lot to show. I’m 41, but I feel like a kid.”
Werdum’s manager, Ali Abdelaziz, recently revealed that the’s hoping to get his fighter booked to fight in Russia, where Werdum has long established connections to Chechen dictator Ramzan Kadyrov and his Akhmat MMA brand.
It’s hard to tell whether or not Werdum will be successful in getting his contract nullified. Former heavyweights Frank Mir and Mirko CroCop both had success on that front. While Mir still waited out his suspension before fighting for Bellator, CroCop returned from a brief ‘retirement’ to compete for RIZIN in Japan halfway through. However, fighters like Tom Lawlor and Jim Wallhead have found themselves locked into their UFC contracts until their suspensions were over, only to then be released. Whether Werdum’s stature in the promotion and high profile management are enough to get him free to compete overseas remains to be seen.