Unbeatable opponent? Don't tell that to Fabricio Werdum
Fabricio Werdum has been here before.
As he approaches his fight on Saturday night against UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez at UFC 188, odds makers have him as much as a 5-to-1 underdog on the betting lines against a fighter who has seemed almost unstoppable during his campaign as "the baddest man on the planet."
There's no doubt Velasquez is a force of nature when he's in the cage -- as he proved when he demolished Junior Dos Santos on two separate occasions, not to mention wins over Brock Lesnar, Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.
Still, Werdum is very familiar with the idea of facing an "unbeatable" fighter when he's being presented as cannon fodder for somebody touted as possibly the greatest of all time.
In 2010, Werdum was set to face off with legendary heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko in almost these exact same circumstances. Emelianenko was a human wrecking machine, stopping virtually every heavyweight in his tracks over the years while standing tall as the unanimous choice for the best pound-for-pound fighter in all of MMA.
It took Werdum just 69 seconds into the first round to wrap Emelianenko up in a triangle choke and force the Russian icon to tap out. Legends never die, but Werdum is happy to add their names to his resume, and he believes Velasquez will be another to go along with Emelianenko.
"My feeling in this fight is the same as when I beat Fedor in 2010," Werdum told FOX Sports. "When I beat Fedor ,the date was June 26. The fight with Cain is June 13. I believe there's an energy about that. This is good. June is my month. Werdum time is coming up."
Five years is a long time, and Werdum believes he's improved exponentially since the fight with Emelianenko.
Werdum is best known as a world-class Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner with some of the craftiest and deadliest submissions on the ground, but he's worked tirelessly to improve his striking over the years and he sees that as another advantage he can exploit when facing Velasquez on Saturday night.
"Before, when I fought in PRIDE, I was just fighting for fun," Werdum said. "Today, I have a lot of good training with Master Rafael (Cordeiro) and I remember back then I was just a jiu-jitsu guy. Now, I'm feeling so different. I had the fight with Travis Browne and everyone said, 'He's going to kill Werdum standing up,' and I said, 'No, I kill him standing up.' Versus Travis Browne I showed my stand-up. Versus Roy Nelson I showed my stand-up too.
"Now in my gym we have two belts -- we have my belt and we have Rafael dos Anjos' belt. Master Rafael shows why he's the best coach. I feel very complete today."
Werdum hasn't slacked off on his ground game either because he knows Velasquez is a two-time All-American wrestler out of Arizona State and he averages more than five takedowns per 15 minutes spent in the Octagon.
To counter Velasquez's versatile ground game, Werdum brought in former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz and former UFC top contender Renato "Babalu" Sobral to help seal up any holes in his wrestling game that he might have ahead of UFC 188.
If the fight does hit the ground, however, Werdum welcomes the chance to show Velasquez what it's like to grapple with a 10-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion.
"Tito Ortiz helps me a lot now. Babalu helps me a lot in wrestling," Werdum said. "For sure, I'm going try to stop him from taking me down, but if he does take me down, I say no problem. I say, 'Thank you, Cain.' That is my home on the ground. He tries to punch me on the ground, I'll finish him."
Werdum has already stated on several occasions that he believes the interim belt he's holding is actually the real UFC heavyweight championship due to Velasquez's lengthy layoff thanks to injuries that have kept him out of the sport for more than a year already.
But Werdum doesn't want a title by default. He wants to beat the man who everyone says is the best in the world, so when Werdum holds his title up high after Saturday night, there's no doubt who is the true champion.
"I don't want the belt just because he doesn't fight," Werdum said. "No, I want to fight him. I want to show who is the real champion."
We'll see on Saturday.
