Werdum To Get Title Shot Because There’s Nobody Else
By Mike MacLeod • Jan 22nd, 2008 • Category: FeaturesMMAjunkie.com and Yahoo! Sports are reporting that Fabricio Werdum is next in line for a shot at the UFC heavyweight title. He’ll take on the winner of an interim title fight between Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Tim Sylvia that headlines next month’s UFC 81 event.
Werdum earned the shot after defeating Gabriel Gonzaga this past weekend at UFC 80. Werdum, now with one win and one loss in the UFC, was being dominated by Gonzaga before surprising everyone with a second-round TKO.
In his UFC debut, Werdum lost a decision to Andrei Arlovski in a boring fight at UFC 70 that may be the most disappointing bout of the year. Neither fighter showed much aggression and Arlovski did just enough to garner the victory.
With these two appearances in the mind of UFC fans, how could Werdum earn a shot at the championship? To answer, one would need to look at the remainder of the UFC heavyweight division. If not Werdum, then who?
Randy Couture is holding his ground on being done with the UFC.
Arlovski is fighting in March for the final event of his current contract and there are reported problems preventing a new one from being signed.
Brandon Vera lost to Sylvia in his last fight at UFC 77.
Gonzaga lost his shot at Couture’s title and just lost to Werdum.
Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic has suffered consecutive losses for the first time in his MMA career and so far appears to be a UFC bust.
Others in the division, including Jake O’Brien, Eddie Sanchez, Justin McCully and Antoni Hardonk are all at least a year away from title-shot status.
Other than Werdum, the other candidate being rumored for a shot is the winner of the fight between Cheick Kongo and Heath Herring at UFC 82. The casual UFC fan might be more puzzled with this decision than with Fabricio. Kongo would make the most sens, assuming he wins this fight, as Herring has lost two of his three UFC fights and mostly look frustrated that his opponents won’t stand still and let him beat them.
So, for those who are asking “Why Werdum?” there may be an even bigger question after he gets his shot. “Who now?”
At least one of Frank Mir or Brock Lesnar better put on a hell of a performance at UFC 81. Many fans of the heavyweight division could be looking to them as saviors.
Mike MacLeod is an MMA journalist and freelance writer. In addition to his role as Editor at BadManSports.com, Mike is a contributing writer for FiveOuncesOfPain.com
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It is interesting to note that the UFC has a policy of not offering title shots to fighters with only 1 fight left on their contract. This is regardless of past performances. I can see situations similar to the one with Andrei Arlovski becoming more common place.
From a purely business perspective, I can understand why the UFC would take such an approach. A current champion holds a lot of bargaining power and you wouldn’t want to take the chance of them joining another organization while they are your champion.
But is it legal? Mark Cuban doesn’t think so.
Gonzaga,Kongo and Herring,Mir,Vera are not going to pull in big ppv numbers as headliners alone- to bad nog isn`t the nog of 2004{still such a sweet ground game}. zuffa at best needs to co main event the heavy`s- mixing them in with solid matchups like karo/hughes and i say let AA turn in a fight or two with anybody`s event and let tim also!
they really need to show case some fighters and some of the tuf fighters they let go! fans are going to come in younger so they should go with the saying:
don`t try to fix it if you didn`t break it! tim/kongo and vera/tim rematch can happen down the road so let tim fight or talk m-1… i`ll just be glad when he comes back to the ufc.oh yea: werdum by jd over nog!
i consider werdum in the top HW.
along with fedor barnett werdum couture sylvia Herring Gonzaga Kongo Aleks Hunt
i don’t remember him being dominated by Gonzaga . vice versa x2 fights.
good at everything.
strikes w. hands knees kicks, submissions, can take a punch, very methodical and focussed.
very hard to submit or KO
interesting points above about the HW’s not get title shots while having only 1 fight left on their contract.
even sports i played a kid we always had a ‘ladder’ so you’d get a shot at someone a few nothches higher on the ladder, but not a shot because some dictator wannabe decides you are marketable .
sport is higher than business!