Fabricio Werdum

Fabrício Werdum is a Brazilian mixed martial artist born on the 30th of July 1977. He is the former UFC heavyweight champion and two-time BJJ and ADCC world champion. Werdum has a black belt in Judo, BJJ and Muay Thai.

Fabricio Werdum is the first man to decisively defeat “The Last Emperor” Fedor Emelianenko.

Werdum was born in Porto Alegre, and started training BJJ after his girlfriends ex-boyfriend choked him out with a triangle choke. He found great success in BJJ and submission grappling competitions before he started training MMA. He moved to Spain to be with his mother when he was 22 years old as a purple belt and started teaching.

Fabricio Werdum – Photo by MMAnytt

Fabricio Werdum’s career before the UFC

Fabricio Werdum made his MMA debut in June of 2002 against Georgian Tengiz Tedoradze and won by triangle choke in the first round. His next fight was a draw but he rebounded with 3 wins, including a win over Gabriel “Napao” Gonzaga.

He made his PRIDE debut against American Tom “Big Cat” Erikson at PRIDE 29 – Fists of Fire. Werdum defeated Erikson by submission in the first round. Werdum defeated Roman Zentsov before losing his first MMA fight against Sergei Kharitonov by decision.

Fabricio Werdum rebounded with two wins, including a win over Alistair Overeem by kimura, before his 2nd loss came to fellow Brazilian Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira.

Fabricio Werdum and Stipe Miocic – Photo by Daniel Patinkin/MMAnytt

Another win and a loss later, he signed with the UFC with a record of 9-2-1.

Fabricio Werdum’s career in the UFC

Fabricio Werdum made his UFC debuton April 21st 2007. He faced former heavyweight champion Andrei “The Pitbull” Arlovski. He lost the fight by unanimous decision. He rebounded with by TKO against Gonzaga and Brandon Vera, before losing by highlight reel KO to Junior dos Santos.

After the loss he was cut from the UFC and competed in Strikeforce where he won his first 3 fights, including a shocking submission of Fedor Emelianenko. He lost to Overeem before Strikeforce folded into the UFC.

Werdum returned to the UFC and won 5 straight fights, including wins over Roy Nelson, Travis Browne and Mark Hunt. The fight against Hunt was for the interim heavyweight title.

Fabricio Werdum vs. Cain Velasquez

Fabricio Werdum faced Cain Velasquez at UFC 188: Velasquez vs. Werdum in Mexico City. Werdum submitted Velasquez after he went for an ill-advised takedown against the BJJ world champion. Velasquez tapped to a guilliotine choke at 2:13 of round 3.

He lost the belt to current champion Stipe Miocic in his very next fight in his backyard of Curitiba, Brazil. After losing his title Werdum is 1-1, defeating Travis Browne and once against losing to Alistair Overeem.