About Fabricio Werdum
Do you recall when you were younger and wished to brag to your girlfriend? Undoubtedly, a much younger Fabricio Werdum once desired the same thing. Unfortunately for him, getting choked out by the skilled Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) practitioner when his then-ex-boyfriend girlfriend’s challenged him to a fight probably didn’t impress her as much as he had anticipated.
But the embarrassment he probably felt that day had a bright side. Because of this, Werdum aggressively sought out BJJ training, which led to his eventual decision to study with Marcio Corletta. A star in MMA and grappling was thus created.
Date of Birth: Fabricio Werdum was born on July 30, 1977 in Porto Alegre, Brazil.
Training Camp and Fighting Organization
Werdum trains with Chute Boxe Academy in Brazil. He fights for the UFC organization.
Nickname Vai Cavalo. This means “Go Horse” and is a reference to Werdum being crazy or wild. He was given the nickname because he often used the term in conversation.
Early Years and the Study of Martial Arts
After being choked out by a girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend, Werdum started learning martial arts, specifically Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Along with this, he began training at the Porto Alegre Academy, Winner Behring, under Marcio Corletta.
Werdum eventually followed his mother to Spain. He began instructing others in his martial art there, despite only having a purple belt at the time in BJJ. Werdum later won the BJJ World Championship. The most amazing thing about this is that he was only working with white and blue belts at the time.
Werdum eventually received his black belt from Sylvio Behring. He has won two Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu world championships, two ADCC heavyweight titles, and a European Jiu-Jitsu title along the road. He is a black belt in judo as well.
Beginnings of MMA and PRIDE
On June 16, 2002, Werdum competed in MMA for the first bout at Millenium Brawl 7 in England, where he defeated Tengiz Tedoradze with a triangle choke. Before the now-defunct PRIDE Fighting Championships called, he actually had a record of 6-0-1. Werdum had a 4-2 record while competing for PRIDE, winning over fighters like Alistair Overeem, Tom Erikson, Roman Zentsov, Jon Olav Einemo, and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira while dropping matches against Sergei Kharitonov and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. Werdum was well-known for working out with Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic while he was a member of PRIDE. While Cro Cop concentrated on refining his stand-up, Werdum was focused on aiding Cro Cop with his ground game.
Werdum Joining UFC
After defeating Aleksander Emelianenko, the younger brother of Fedor Emelianenko, with an arm triangle choke, Werdum joined the UFC after PRIDE was disbanded and faced Andrei Arlovski in his first professional fight at UFC 70. Werdum suffered a decision loss but went on to triumph over Gabriel Gonzaga and Brandon Vera in quick succession. However, he did not fare well in his final bout in the UFC, losing by TKO to rising star Junior dos Santos.
In Strikeforce, defeating Fedor Emelianenko
On June 26, 2010, with just 1:09 remaining in the contest, Werdum submitted Emelianenko using a triangle armbar. One of the biggest surprises in MMA history, it was Fedor’s first defeat in more than ten years.
Go back to the UFC
On September 4, 2012, Werdum made his UFC comeback by winning by decision over Roy “Big Country” Nelson at UFC 143.
Combative Style
Fabricio Werdum’s background in the ground game is his biggest asset as a fighter. He is an expert in submissions from the top, bottom, and guard positions. He has greatly refined his striking technique in recent years and now has a varied stand-up game.
Beyond the previously mentioned, Werdum always arrives at fights in good shape and has shown a lot of heart on numerous occasions.
