Fabricio Werdum's next fight to be outside of Strikeforce
Fans hoping for Fabricio Werdum to fight Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alastair Overeem, or his rematch with Fedor “The Last Emperor” Emelianenko will have to wait a little longer. Werdum told Sherdog.com
on Monday 15 November that he’s healed from injury, but that his next fight would be outside of the Strikeforce promotion.
“Strikeforce want me to return in March against Fedor [Emelianenko] or [Alistair] Overeem, but I'm looking forward to having a fight before that one,” said Werdum.
Werdum already holds a win over Overeem years ago in the Pride Fighting Championships promotion, but since then Overeem has bulked up tremendously and honed his game, capturing the Strikeforce belt along
the way. But Werdum’s win over Overeem years ago hardly compares to the incredible upset he pulled in June over Emelianenko, who was the undisputed number one heavyweight for eight years until the loss. Werdum caught Emelianenko in a submission very early
in the fight and forced the Russian to tap. Since the shock victory, which propelled Werdum to number four in the USA Today/SB Nation rankings (Emelianenko is now third and Overeem eighth), fans have been clamouring for a rematch with either fighter.
Werdum also elaborated to Sherdog.com about the arrangement that allowed him to fight elsewhere than Strikeforce.
“I don’t have an exclusive contract with Strikeforce, only for the U.S., and I got a nice proposal in Abu Dhabi and another one in Japan,” he said, and also noted his arm feeling much better after it had
required surgery after his defeat of Emelianenko.
“My arm is 100 percent now and I feel that by February, I'll be ready to fight in Abu Dhabi or Japan,” said Werdum.
Werdum, a noted Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner, may be referring to the Mundials grappling tournament, which is held in Abu Dhabi and is often considered the premier grappling tournament in the world.
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