Fabricio Werdum is keeping his options open after leaving UFC.
On Saturday, Werdum (24-9-1 MMA, 12-6 UFC) defeated Alexander Gustafsson by first-round armbar at UFC on ESPN 14 to snap a two-fight losing streak.
After the fight, he became emotional when speaking in Portuguese in his post-fight interview.
“The emotion was because this is my last fight in the UFC,” Werdum told reporters. “I had many years with the UFC. I don’t know how many I had with the UFC, like 10 years (or) 12 years. You know? I’m a working individual – on Spanish commentaries. I think almost all of my life was here. I love UFC for sure. I want to say thank you to the UFC for many things.”
“Sometimes you lose the last fight in the UFC, and it’s like everything changes,” Werdum said. “You know? I don’t know if I’m staying in the UFC or not or maybe with a different (promotion). I won’t stop (fighting). One hundred percent I’m not stopping. I have a couple fights (left). I told you before, I’m very young. My mind is young.”
When asked if he’d like to rematch current Bellator heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko, Werdum excitedly jumped at the proposal.
“This is 100 percent (true),” Werdum said. “I want to fight with Fedor, 100 percent. I respect him a lot. I want to give this opportunity to him to fight with me again. This has history: Me vs. Fedor in 2010. Ten years later, everybody wants to see this fight. I don’t know where, but for sure I want to fight with Fedor because I respect him. In my mind, he is the best in the world.”
