(Beating Fedor…uninterested in Ubereem…UFC co-promotion? Do his pupils look dialated?)

Heading into his potentially career defining June 26 battle with Fedor Emelianenko, Fabrício Werdum spoke with TATAME’s Eduardo Ferreira about his chances in the fight and his future in the sport beyond.

Werdum says that he thinks he has pinpointed some of Emelianenko’s weaknesses and plans to exploit them.

(Feelin’ lucky?)

Okay, I know it’s too early to do a Gambling Addiction Enabler on Strikeforce’s "Fedor vs. Werdum" show (June 26, San Jose), but I just had to pass along the squashtastic betting lines that have been released for the top four fights on the card. Check it out:

– Fedor Emelianenko -1000 vs. Fabricio Werdum +500
– Cristiane Santos -2500 vs. Jan Finney +1000
– Cung Le -400 vs. Scott Smith +275
– KJ Noons -500 vs. Charles Bennett +360

Let me try to put this in perspective. According to BetUs.com, if you place a $100 parlay bet on all four of the underdogs listed above, and they all somehow manage to win their fights, you would walk away with a profit of $89,150. A more modest $20 parlay bet would net you $17,830. 

(Werdum taking advantage of his only opportunity to try on Fedor’s belt.)

Today Strikeforce put to rest the rampant rumors that Fedor Emelianenko would be signing with the UFC with the announcement that "The Last Emperor" will face two-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion Fabricio "Vai Cavalo" Werdum in a headlining bout on the promotion’s Saturday, June 26 card.

The event, which will be co-promoted by M-1 Global will be featured on SHOWTIME. Strikeforce was hoping to have CBS showcase the bout, but the organization’s president Scott Coker mentioned last week that have not met with the network to discuss their plans moving forward since the post-fight brawl that took place during their last broadcast event last month.

 
During a press conference following DREAM 13, Scott Coker told reporters that Fedor Emelianenko would finally make his Strikeforce return this summer, seven months after his second-round knockout of Brett Rogers: 

Better than nothing, I guess — although it’s still ridiculous that Fedor is fighting another contender, while Strikeforce champion Alistair Overeem is booked for a non-title exhibition against Brett Rogers in May. No other matches have been announced for Strikeforce’s June card yet.

The relationship between Strikeforce and M-1 Global appeared strained in recent weeks, with reports of renegotiations making the rounds. But although the dispute may sound like a money grab, M-1 says that what they’re really after is greater brand visibility. From a report by Dave Meltzer on Yahoo!:

(Werdum displays some riveting mic skills in this interview with Ariel Helwani.)

Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker told reporters at the post-fight press conference on Saturday night that Fedor Emelianenko’s next fight would most likely be against Fabricio Werdum on the April 2010 CBS show. As in, the same Werdum who recently won a lackluster decision over “Bigfoot” Silva, and got dropped from the UFC after getting dropped by a monster uppercut from Junior Dos Santos. In case you can’t tell, this isn’t the huge Fedor fight we were hoping Strikeforce would put together for their next CBS offering. With Alistair Overeem still MIA and a dearth of other heavyweights ready to step up to the big time, a guy on a two-fight win streak may really be the best they can do by April.

But if you thought it was tough to do a network TV promotional push with Brett Rogers doing all the work as the only fluent English-speaker in the main event, get ready for things to become even more difficult. Werdum doesn’t exactly speak the King’s English, and selling a fight between an inscrutable Russian and a fairly bland Brazilian to casual sports fans via a series of translators and facial expressions is no easy task. Maybe they can hype this thing through interpretive dance?

Fedor vs. Rogers post-event press conference – Watch more Funny Videos

Here’s some footage I took at the Strikeforce post-event presser on Saturday night, which all the main event fighters showed up for. You’ve already heard what Fedor had to say, but check out the reactions from everybody else…

— Fabricio Werdum says he’s earned a shot at Fedor, who Werdum believes is the best fighter in the world. After a week of rest, he’ll be back to training hard.

— Gegard Mousasi says people underestimated Sokoudjou, and called the fight a learning experience.

— Jason Miller blames himself for not capitalizing on the chances he had in his fight against Jake Shields, and for not training his wrestling enough; he was not expecting a "grapplefest."

— Shields still thinks that his best weight is welterweight. Scott Coker would like to put him against Marius Zaromskis or Hayato Sakurai at 170.

— Shields thinks Cung Le is avoiding him. "That’s why he vacated the belt, obviously, and fights a month later."

(As you can see, Antonio’s head is roughly the size of Fabricio’s torso.)

According to a report on MMA Junkie, bout agreements have been finalized for heavyweights Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva and Fabricio Werdum to face each other on the main card of Strikeforce’s "Fedor vs. Rogers" event on November 7th. With Alistair Overeem pissing his career away in Holland, the Silva/Werdum matchup would logically produce the next opponent for the winner of the night’s main event.

Silva has gone 2-0 in Sengoku since catching a one-year steroid suspension from the California State Athletic Commission following his victory over Justin Eilers at EliteXC: Unfinished Business. Werdum made his Strikeforce debut in August with a quick submission win over Mike Kyle; two weeks ago, he swept the heavyweight division at the 2009 ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship. With the addition of this bout, the Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers main card looks like this…

(Braulio Estima vs. Xande Ribeiro in the men’s absolute finals. For more ADCC videos, check out YouTube.com/sourceBJJ.)

The level of Brazilian domination at the 2009 Abu Dhabi Combat Club Submission Wrestling World Championship was, as they might say, absolutely hidiculous. Brazilian grapplers swept every single division at the two-day event, which was held Saturday and Sunday at the Palau Municipal d’Esports de Badalona in Barcelona, Spain. Complete results are below; props to MMA Mania.

Day 1, 9/26/09

Men’s +99kg (+218 lbs.) Opening Round
Fabricio Werdum (Brazil) def. Rogent Lloret (Spain) via kimura
Tomasz Janiszewski (Poland) def. Antoine Jaoude (Brazil) via points
Romulo Barral (Brazil) def. Denis Roberts (Australia) via heel hook
Saulo Ribeiro (Brazil) def. Kouji Kanechika (Japan) via points
Jeff Monson (USA) def. Karol Bedorf (Poland) via points
Janne-Pekka Pietiläinen (Finland) def. Tom Erikson (USA) via heel hook
Roberto “Cyborg” Abreu (Brazil) def. Tom De Blass (USA) via points
Asa Fuller (USA) def. Mike Matell (Canada) via armbar

Men’s +99kg (+218 lbs.) Quarter-Finals
Fabricio Werdum (Brazil) def. Tomasz Janiszewski (Poland) via points
Saulo Ribeiro (Brazil) def. Romulo Barral (Brazil) via points
Jeff Monson (USA) def. Janne-Pekka Pietiläinen (Finland) via points
Roberto “Cyborg” Abreu (Brazil) def. Asa Fuller (USA) via points

("I must break you. Right after I get a few more of those doughnuts." Photo courtesy of ShoSports.)

Brett "The Grim" Rogers on his upcoming matchup with Fedor Emelianenko:

"I feel that I’m a different fighter for Fedor; Fedor hasn’t felt the power that he’s about to get. You see what I mean? It’s definitely gonna be a fun fight, man. He’s talented, but the same things he’s skilled in, I’m skilled in.* It’s just we just gonna see who’s more hungry.**

Basically, a fighter for his size, his weight, just the way his aggression, when he takes top he’s good at controlling the top position. So, I’ve been trying to work with guys that can kinda mock him***; he may have that, a couple pounds less than me… But if he’s expecting to take top, and hold top, it’s not gonna happen.**** I’m definitely gonna re-position myself whenever I get in danger and hopefully get back to the feet and finish it off." —

* Seriously, Brett? Are you really suggesting that you can draw as well as the Last Emperor?

** You mean who’s literally more hungry? Because you both come across as very hungry people. Big eaters, is all I’m saying. Come to think of it, a pie-eating contest between the two of you would probably be a lot more competitive than a cage-fight.

*** There’s only one guy who could possibly take on that job.

**** It might happen. It’s probably going to happen.

(Props: cnovs13 via Moth2Flame)

When you watch this video of Cristiane "Cris Cyborg" Santos going through some caveman-style training at Advanced Human Movement, you don’t see a woman who’s on the verge of calling for her mommy. Cyborg is a physical dynamo. Check out the 2:39 mark, where she repeatedly picks up her husband Evangelista with a bungee rope harnessed to her back. I don’t know if I could even do that once, and I outweigh Cyborg by a solid 20 pounds of stomach fat. It’s no wonder why the Brazilian is a betting favorite by as much as -200. Anybody plan on taking Gina Carano in this one?

After the jump: Fabricio Werdum gets in a workout at AHM. Werdum will be facing despicable cheater Mike Kyle on the undercard of "Carano vs. Cyborg."

(All right guys, just flip a coin for it.  Loser fights Fedor.  Winner gets an ice cream sandwich.)

Remember when the fun trend among MMA fighters was to declare their desire and willingness to fight Fedor Emelianenko, despite not being in the same organization or even weight class?  Well, somebody better go call all those bastards up, because Fedor needs a replacement opponent in a hurry.  With Josh Barnett getting the no-go from the California State Athletic Commission, Affliction is said to be looking at four possible replacements, which range from unlikely to damn near impossible to not that credible of a challenger even if they did agree to it. 

But why stop with the merely implausible or ill-advised possibilities?  Clearly, this is a total shit-show of a problem that requires a total shit-show of a solution.  Allow us to examine the possibilities…

(‘If you see that son of a bitch Gallagher, tell him we need to talk.’)

There’s something to be learned from the cautionary tale of Alistair Overeem, and it’s this: if you’re going to get into a nightclub brawl in between title fights, at least have the sense to hit people with your elbows and not your fists.  Strikeforce officials confirmed today that Overeem will be unable to defend his heavyweight title on August 15 against Fabricio Werdum because the infection to the hand he injured on a bouncer’s face back in May still hasn’t healed. 

This means he’ll miss a second straight fight because of his street fighting antics, and the Strikeforce heavyweight strap that he won back in 2007 and has yet to defend will stay on the shelf…or will it?

(Overeem vs. Werdum 1; Fabricio starts the fight with a flying kick at the 1:11 mark, and ends it with a kimura at 17:08.)

As first reported by MMA Fanhouse and confirmed shortly after via press release, Alistair Overeem will indeed be making his first Strikeforce heavyweight title defense on the main card of "Carano vs. Cyborg" (August 15th, San Jose). But get this — he’ll be taking on PRIDE/UFC vet Fabricio Werdum, not undefeated KO artist Brett Rogers as was originally speculated.

Overeem and Werdum already have a history together. In May 2006, they had a memorable battle in the opening round of PRIDE’s open-weight GP, with Werdum pulling out a kimura submission near the end of the second round. Said Overeem about the upcoming rematch: “I’m very happy that I’m being given the opportunity to fight him again and I’m looking forward to beating him. This is the one rematch I’ve wanted. I’m going to punish this guy.”

("Y’know, I used to box a little myself. Say, do you party?" Photo courtesy of this great set on allelbows.)

If not for Cris Cyborg’s woman-problems fiasco, last night’s Strikeforce show would have been an unequivocal success. There were memorable knockouts, brilliant performances (we take back every bad thing we ever said about you, Nick), and one fight (Smith vs. Radach) that will probably make year-end lists as one of the best matches of 2009. Here are some of the stories coming out of the event…

— "Shamrock vs. Diaz" pulled in 15,211 fans for an estimated live gate of $750,000. Said Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker: "We scaled the tickets back for the economy to make it affordable…We tried to be considerate and make it affordable for everybody. Would we like to scale (up) the prices and bring in more revenue? There will be a time for that. We’ll keep building it."

— In the post-event press conference, Coker stated that he’d like to put together the much-anticipated bout between Gina Carano and Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos for Strikeforce’s August event, and said it would be for "our first Strikeforce female title belt." As for the ongoing contract talks with Gina Carano, Coker said, "We’re currently negotiating the final touches of this contract. Hopefully we’ll get it to bed here in the next two weeks or a week. I think we’re very close."

— Also during the press-conference, recent Strikeforce signee Fabricio Werdum said that he’d like to be a future opponent for Alistair Overeem; Werdum previously submitted Overeem via kimura at PRIDE Total Elimination Absolute in May 2006. Said Werdum: "I’m going to take the other arm home. And then the third time it’s going to be hard to fight with no arms at all." Overlooked once again, Brett Rogers said "Before everybody walks away, I mean I wouldn’t mind fighting Overeem. That would be nice right there." Awww, of course it would, big guy!

(Dos Santos makes short work of Stefan "Skyscraper" Struve at UFC 95 in February. Photo courtesy of DayLife.com.)

There are some MMA fans who will tell you that Junior Dos Santos is one of the ten best heavyweights in the world. Personally, I think he needs one more win over a credible opponent before he becomes Power Ranking-worthy, but I won’t deny that he’s got serious talent and potential. Which is why it’s strange that for his third fight in the Octagon, he’s being given someone near the very bottom of the UFC heavyweight totem pole. MMA Junkie reports that Dos Santos and Justin McCully have agreed to face each other at UFC 102 (August 29th; Portland, Oregon). So, quick MMA Math…

Junior Dos Santos wasted Fabricio Werdum, who pwned Gabriel Gonzaga, who made McCully his bitch = OMFG can this fight even get approval by the Oregon State Athletic Commission?

(Props: World of MMA)

File under: Things that would be kind of amazing, but don’t have the slightest chance of actually happening. In this quickie interview with Fabricio Werdum, the former UFC heavyweight says his next fight will be for Strikeforce, likely in May (cool!), and his opponent "is possible, maybe, Kimbo" (oh no!). Throwing Ferg against a seasoned killer like Werdum seems to contradict Scott Coker’s previously stated plan to build Slice back up slowly, so we’re raising an eyebrow at this one. But for the record, Fab says that his gameplan would be to take Kimbo down and submit him. Smart thinking, player; you don’t want none of Kimbo in a stand-up war.

Below: Versus chose not to show the direct aftermath of Damacio Page’s Knockout of the Night over Marcos Galvao at WEC 39, and with good reason — Galvao was completely stiffened after the KO, and then suffered a brief seizure. Check out the gruesome fan-shot video below. Fortunately, Galvao was quickly released from the hospital with no apparent injuries, but it was a scary moment for the fighter and his supporters.

(Props: Fightlinker)

(‘A contract with the UFC? I’m set for life! What could possibly go wrong now?’)

Former UFC heavyweight Fabricio Werdum didn’t appear to realize he’d been fired from the organization even after several media outlets reported the news. At first we thought maybe his manager (also known as his sister) hadn’t told him for fear that he’d finally realize what a mistake it had been to hire her. Or perhaps he was just in denial. But now Werdum is facing the difficult realities of the situation, and judging by what he told Tatame, the UFC didn’t make much of an effort to come to terms with him:

“When I first heard the rumours, I didn’t know anything. I had four more fights left with them on my contract, which ran to 2010. But they demanded to renegotiate my existing contract by cutting my pay in half” revealed the heavyweight. Adding also that his departure had nothing to do with the video game licensing dispute. “No that wasn’t an issue but its not something that benefit’s the fighters”

“I‘m a free agent now. One of the advantages of leaving the UFC is the freedom of contract, which allows fighters to work with more than one event without any problems. That’s very beneficial. There are several possibilities now including fighting in multiple organizations. Affliction, Sengoku and Dream are big events, but I think the possibility of fighting for Affliction in particular will give me the best chance to fight the best in the world, Fedor, in addition to (Andrei) Arlovski, Josh Barnett and several other big names …That would be a great opportunity for me.”

Considering the sport’s “inyaface” attitude, MMA organizations are surprisingly non-confrontational when it comes to dealing with their employees. Time and time again we hear stories of fighters who find out their contracts have been shredded (or that the league they fight for no longer exists) not from the company HR department, but from blogs like this one. The latest example is Fabricio Werdum, who thought his job security with the UFC was solid until Tatame filled him in. It seems like the big guy is still in denial:

“I’m surprised by the news. My sister is my manager and she’s the one that deals with the UFC and she always contacted me first before making decision. From what I know the UFC have not contacted her. I still have four more fights left on my contract that runs until 2010. From what they told me I should fight in February, July, November and April of 2010. In fact, I’m moving to the US to prepare for those fights with Rafael Cordeiro.” said Werdum who is still making final arrangements to make his move to USA in December.

Well, your first mistake was making your sister your manager — the woman’s got enough to worry about, what with the new baby and the kitchen renovations and the new season of Lipstick Jungle. Maybe she just forgot to tell you that the UFC called to fire you. It happens.

Werdum’s statement seems to contradict MMA Weekly’s earlier report that “Vai Cavalo” is already looking for a new place to fight, but the firing part seems accurate, at least; as Fightlinker points out, Werdum’s name is gone from the rolls at UFC.com. I guess that’s what passes for a firm handshake and a “good luck” these days…

(Thanks to Robert at Betwwx for the translation.)

(When you wake up, we’ll need you to clean out your desk. Photo courtesy of UFC.com.)

Just how rough is this economy? Well, former UFC top heavyweight contender Fabricio Werdum just got downsized after losing one fight. Apparently Dana White & Co. were less than understanding of Werdum‘s upset loss to Junior Dos Santos at UFC 90 and asked him to immediately re-negotiate his contract. The two sides couldn’t come to an agreement, prompting Werdum to leave the promotion; according to MMA Weekly, he’s already negotiating with other fight clubs in the U.S. and Japan.

For the record, Werdum’s base salary was $80,000 when he made his UFC debut in April 2007, dropping a decision to Andrei Arlovski. We’d assume that he made the same amount for his subsequent beatings of Gabriel Gonzaga and Brandon Vera (at UFC 80 and 85), and his loss to Dos Santos last month, but salaries for those events were never publicly released. At any rate, his old employer decided he wasn’t worth 80 grand anymore and put the screws to him, which is just another example of the imbalance of power that plagues UFC fighter contracts. You sign a piece of paper that seemingly promises you a certain amount of money for a certain number of fights, but it’s by no means a guarantee unless you win every fight. And as the UFC becomes the only game in town, the power it wields is even greater. Anybody want to start a fighter’s union?

What a bizarre night. If, like me, you can’t quite make sense of what you saw last night, the video above gives you another chance to sort through it all. What does it say when Bruce Buffer provides more intensity than the main event?

Bonus awards for UFC 90 were $65,000 a piece and it played out like this:

Fight of the Night: Sean Sherk and Tyson Griffin
Submission of the Night: Spencer Fisher
KO of the Night: Junior Dos Santos

Awarding bonuses this time around must have felt like a strange process. There were only two submissions (Thales Leites’ choke of McFedries was not impressive enough somehow) and one knockout, and picking a fight of the night had to be a lot like picking a favorite Arena League football team. Apparently 15,359 people showed up to be disappointed by the most unsatisfying UFC in recent memory, with a live gate totaling $2.85 million.

Dos Santos’ vicious knockout of Werdum is after the jump, along with the so-called fight of the night and more.

(Werdum and Andrei Arlovski throw down at UFC 70.)

As the man responsible for de-hyping both Gabriel Gonzaga and Brandon Vera, Fabricio Werdum is riding high in the UFC’s heavyweight division. And to make sure he doesn’t slip away like Randy, Tim, and Andrei, the UFC has just locked him into a five-fight contract extension, with the promise of an immediate title shot if he wins his next fight. Sweetening the deal is the fact that his next fight might be a cakewalk for the well-seasoned and impossible to finish “Vai Cavalo” — he’ll compete at UFC 90 (October 25th, Chicago), possibly against Junior Dos Santos, a 6-1 vet of various Brazilian shows who’s probably not ready for the UFC yet.

Assuming he wins his next match, Werdum will then face either Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira or Frank Mir, who are expected to fight in late December. Werdum hopes Big Nog comes out victorious, telling Tatame:

“A fight against Minotauro would be like a dream. It would be great for me, because I fought against him at PRIDE and it was a great fight, he deserved the victory, and I want to say that I’m fighting for the belt against Minotauro, probably in March.”

Werdum is referring to his unanimous decision loss to Nogueira at PRIDE Critical Countdown Absolute in July 2006. Following that fight, Werdum choked out Aleksander Emelianenko then moved to the UFC where he lost another unanimous decision to Andrei Arlovski before knocking off Gonzaga and Vera.

Related: Heavyweight Power Rankings

(“Boom! Another hit is landed…” The Pitbull mauls old-ass Matt Hughes. Photo courtesy of UFC.com.)

Now that the adrenaline has subsided, we can have a normal conversation. Here’s what I’ve been thinking about since Saturday afternoon…

— Matt Hughes carved out a legendary career without ever being a particularly dangerous striker. And good for him, but the young fighters coming up these days will not stand for that shit. There’s no way you can compete at an elite level anymore without a complete game. Hughes never had one, and it’s now been fully exposed. After Alves stuffed Hughes’s takedown attempts during their fight, the former champ had no more weapons left, and it was only a countdown until the inevitable. I’m interested in seeing Hughes settle his grudge match with Matt Serra; I’m not really interested in seeing Hughes continue to be tooled by other athletic and well-rounded members of the UFC’s welterweight division.

— Michael Bisping looked deadly once again. Obviously he’d be wrecked by Silva, Franklin, or Henderson (or Marquardt on a good day), but he’d have to be the favorite against any other middleweight in the UFC. I’d guess he’s two wins away from a title shot, and luckily for him, Anderson Silva might not be around by the time he gets there. (The chatter is that Silva may move up to light-heavyweight for a marquee fight, but it’s totally unsubstantiated at this point, so don’t get your hopes up.)

— I don’t care what Jason Lambert needs to do to get down to 185 — stomach stapling, breast reduction surgery, whatever — he just needs to get there. He also needs to understand that his boxing sucks; just like in his fight with Wilson Gouveia, Lambert’s wild and sloppy haymakers led to his own damn self getting knocked out against Luis Cane. I think the biggest lesson I learned from “Bedlam” was that if there’s a noticeably out-of-shape guy fighting a guy in great physical condition, don’t bet on the fatty. (See also: Eddie Sanchez.)

Hey, you want to hear something crazy? There’s another UFC event in like three days. And though it’s not the most thrilling card in recent memory, I’ll definitely be paying close attention, because Saturday marks the rematch of my vomit-video bet with Ryan Harkness of Fightlinker. (Read all the details/backstory here.) So these are the picks I’m going with, God help me. Let me know what you think in the comments section, and remember to come back here this Saturday at noon PT / 3 p.m. ET for our live results coverage.

MAIN CARD

Matt Hughes def. Thiago Alves via decision
Matt Hughes may be on the decline, and Thiago Alves is definitely on the come-up, but they haven’t passed each other yet, so to speak. Though Alves caught Karo Parisyan at UFC Fight Night 13, he’s failed in previous big tests against Spencer Fisher and Jon Fitch. Hughes may have trouble with Alves’s striking and youthful energy, and a submission victory is unlikely, but I can see the future Hall of Famer dominating the young challenger with his wrestling and grinding out a decision.

Michael Bisping def. Jason Day via KO/TKO, round 1
Michael Bisping only runs into problems when he’s matched up against big wrestlers; Jason Day is not a big wrestler. “Dooms” schooled Alan Belcher in his Octagon debut, but he has nothing on the Count, who looked impressively dangerous in his first middleweight match in April. Fun fact: All five of Day’s losses have come by first-round stoppage; why bet against the trend?

Marcus Davis def. Mike Swick via KO/TKO, round 2
The Irish Hand Grenade has said he’s not judging Mike Swick by his last performance, but I can’t get over the fact that Swick looked emaciated during the Burkman fight and fought like a pussy. Meanwhile, Davis is far more well-rounded than people give him credit for, and gets overlooked because he hasn’t been presented with a tough challenge yet. I expect Davis to rise to the occasion, big time, and extend his impressive win streak to 12. WAR HAND-GRENADE!!!

Nate Marquardt def. Thales Leites via submission, round 3
There are many who think Nate Marquardt is one of the top ten middleweights in the world. I’m not one of those people, but there’s no denying his submission prowess or his resume, which includes wins over Shonie Carter, Kazuo Misaki, Dean Lister, and most recently Jeremy Horn. Leites has good credentials and a great record, but Marquardt represents a large step up in competition for him. I think a jiu-jitsu showdown is inevitable, and Marquardt will eventually come out on top.

Fabricio Werdum def. Brandon Vera via decision
This might be the toughest fight to pick on the card. Brandon Vera is a dangerous striker, and who knows what would have happened if he didn’t break his hand during the Tim Sylvia fight (his first career loss). On the other hand, Werdum has gone toe-to-toe with much scarier strikers than Vera (Kharitonov, A. Emelianenko, and Arlovski among them) and avoided being knocked out. Werdum’s a little bigger than Vera, and better on the ground. I’m leaning towards the Brazilian because he has more ways to win, but it’s very hard to predict how, especially because neither fighter has ever been stopped. Could be a battle.

(Brandon Vera drools all over Frank Mir.)

Hey, good morning.

The latest fight-booking news is that UFC heavyweights Brandon Vera and Fabricio Werdum will likely face each other at UFC 85, which is scheduled for June 7th at the O2 Arena in London. The paperwork hasn’t been signed yet, but the offers are officially out. This would be Vera’s first match after breaking his hand during a loss to Tim Sylvia at UFC 77 in October, and Werdum’s follow-up to knocking out Gabriel Gonzaga last month at “Rapid Fire.” At this point, we’d call the match for Vera, who will likely come out throwing fire in order to avoid a second-straight loss. Brock Lesnar is also rumored to be on the UFC 85 card, against a yet-unnamed opponent, who will probably be someone in the Eddie Sanchez/Antoni Hardonk range. Still, we wouldn’t rule out the UFC sacrificing Lesnar to a bigger name for a giant PPV payday — but then again, there aren’t many bigger names left in the UFC’s heavyweight division.

In other Octagon news, a twelfth fight has officially been added to UFC Ultimate Fight Night 13, which we’re pretty sure is unprecedented. To ensure that at least some fights on the card will be untelevised, the UFC has added a lightweight match between TUF 5 contestant Manny Gamburyan (who happens to be Karo Parisyan’s cousin) and Jeff Cox, who’s sole UFC fight was a submission loss to Gleison Tibau last June. This is the first UFN 13 matchup we’re like “meh” about, but hey, the more fights the better.

We’re not sure why so many people are talking about Saturday’s Gabriel Gonzaga/Fabricio Werdum fight at UFC 80 like it’s a foregone conclusion that Gonzaga’s getting his arm raised at the end of the night. Werdum is unquestionably a tough dude — he beat Gonzaga once before, back in 2003, and is only the third person (in addition to heavyweight legends Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic and Josh Barnett) to have defeated Aleksander Emelianenko. Here’s the Werdum/Emelianenko fight from “2H2H: PRIDE and Honor” in November 2006. We kind of think Aleks was having an off night, but Werdum dominated the entire match, putting things to a stop with a triangle choke in the first round. Werdum’s next fight was an ugly unanimous decision loss to Andrei Arlovski; here’s hoping he finds his balls again.