UFC heavyweight contender Fabricio Werdum (18-5-1 MMA, 6-2 UFC) made a statement of intent when he dominated Travis Browne (16-2-1 MMA, 7-2-1 UFC) en route to a unanimous decision win at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida, on Saturday night. With this win, the 36-year-old Brazilian has set himself up for a shot at Cain Velasquez’ heavyweight title.
Werdum has had his ups and downs during his UFC career; he was let go from the organization back in 2008. However, since his return to the fold in February 2012 he has gone 4-0 in the UFC, and Werdum has now rebuilt and positioned himself for a tilt at the title.
It was expected that Werdum, a multiple world champ in jiu-jitsu, would not stand up and trade with the 6’7″ Browne, who up to this fight had never been taken down in his career. However, Werdum not only held own in the stand-up fight, but he excelled, and he then capped it off by taking down Browne in the first round before slowly and surely wearing out the Hawaiian over the 25 minutes.
Over the course of the fight, Werdum landed 171 of 251 strikes and was successful with two of his six take down attempts, while Browne landed 77 of 173 strikes and had no take downs, according to Fight Metric. At the final bell, all three judges called the fight for Werdum, scoring it 49-46 and 50-45 twice.
Werdum even had a little time to have some fun during the fight, as this video he posted on Instagram illustrates:
Check out the fight highlights:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=Yk8mpAneRJQ
And here is the Werdum talking to the guys at Fox about his performance and the challenge that awaits in the form of Velasquez:
