http://www.fiveknuckles.com/assets/i...o_werdum_2.jpgFabricio Werdum shook the foundations of the MMA world Saturday night when he did the nearly unthinkable, forcing Russian superstar Fedor Emelianenko to tap to a triangle choke in the first round of their fight at Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Werdum. For Emelianenko (32-2 1 NC) the loss marked his first defeat in MMA competition since a highly controversial doctor stoppage due to a cut he suffered from an illegal elbow by Tsuyoshi Kohsaka at the Rings King of Kings tournament in Japan in 2000. For Werdum (14-4-1), it was the first step in a MMA career that will never be the same again. From now on, whatever else he does, Werdum will forever be remembered as the man who dethroned "The Last Emperor." Despite his success on June 26, the road to the fight was not a smooth one for Werdum, who was frustrated by several delays during the course of his training. Despite seeing the match rescheduled twice, the Brazilian jiu-jitsu ace managed to keep a positive mindset through his long training camp, and the results were obvious. "The expectations were high," Werdum told Tatame.com. "I was well trained. Even though they changed the date of my fight, I didn't stop training... They scheduled it for April, then for May, and I didn't stop training, so, in fact, it end up being a good thing for me. I was physically great, 100% mentally, happy, gathered with my team, my family, my mom, my brother and my sister, the crew that came from Brazil, so the vibe was 100% positive. The guys from the event were upset because we made a lot of noise. The Athletic Commission wanted to give us a fine because we were making a huge mess, but we showed our happiness for everybody, it was a great vibe. And it was the fight I felt best about myself, I was at ease in the ring, in the dressing room, backstage, it was great." Werdum had said in the buildup for the fight that his strategy would be to go for Emelianenko's neck, and it turned out that was exactly what happened. Above all, Werdum was focused on taking the fight to the ground. "What we wanted was the submission, the rest was all part of the strategy to go for the ground as soon as possible, even if he came forward, I wanted to go for the ground," Werdum stated. "I couldn't make up my mind if I would go for his arm or his neck. I went one way, he defended himself, and then I went the other way, so that double attack was great, because while he defended his neck, I got his arm and tightened the triangle... You can watch the video of the bout and you'll see that I checked the feet, the shin, the arm, I checked it and I was going to stretch his arm right there. I grabbed his arm and he was about to tap out, but I didn't work out, so I tightened the triangle and it worked." Despite appearing to be knocked down by Emelianenko early in the fight, Werdum says he was never really hurt. "It wasn't a knockdown, it was more like I lost my balance because of the punch, but I'd go for the ground anyway, so I fell on the ground wanting to go there," Werdum clarified. "It wasn't a knockdown, not at all. I felt the blow, but it wasn't that strong, I just lost my balance." So when you have defeated a living legend, what do you do for an encore? Werdum has already asked for a rematch with Emelianenko, but so far, he says, Strikeforce has not made a decision. "No, they told me they'd see (about the rematch), so let's enjoy this win and maybe they'll have me confront Overeem, but let's see," Werdum said. "I just beat the best of the world, I don't want to take a step backwards and fight against Overeem. I want to fight against Fedor in 6 to 8 months from now in Russia, Rocky Balboa style." Werdum is not intimidated by the prospect of fighting in Emelianenko's homeland- instead he seems to relish the idea. "I believe that the crowd would be with him, but people would respect me and I'd bring my guys," Werdum imagined. "I'm sure that the Brazilians can make much more noise than a million Russians." For now, though, MMA's new king slayer is happy to wind down and spend some well-earned rest time with his family. "I'll go to Los Angeles to see my daughter and my wife," Werdum says of his immediate plans, "to eat a little bit, and spend a whole week doing barbecues (laughs)." fiveknuckles.com
Good, against Fedor he gets more money and more exposure. That way Fedor gets his chance to redeem himself too. Overeem is bland.
I respect the dude for wanting to go to Russia. Go into Fedor's backyard with all the hype. Fuck yeah.
If Overeem has REALLY Been as Inactive as REED has Read, then it's his OWNfuckingFAULT that he's about to Get Kicked to the Curb... The ONLY Fight to B Made is the RE...U Can Only DIMINISH the RE by Having Either Guy Face ANYBODY Else in the Interim...So Overeem's on the OUTSIDE Looking In, which Serves him Right for SITTING on his Title as Loooooooong as he has... REED:hammert:
Fuck Overeem, it will be another 2+ years before that clown defends his belt anyway. He deserves nothing.
bitch move by Werdum, who's definitively scared of overeem. He was getting whooped badly, even on the ground, bfore getting a last minute sub, against the smaller version of overeem. he knows he has no chance qagainst overeem 2.0. i,ll lose a lot of respect for strikeforce if they don't make Werdum-Overeem next. Fedor-Overeem was supposed to be an eliminator to face the champ, if strikeforce doen't make Werdum-Overeem next, it will show that they themselves, don't have any respect for theyr title belt.
Go do some research kidddie, Overeem is far from inactive. He has fight 12 times since 2007. Some (if not most) of these fight were against bum, but still, he's a very active fighter.
Overeem has been inactive against quality competition, but he does fight often, just not against anyone good. He also fights in K-1, which in all likelyhood makes him signing with the UFC something that's never gonna happen. TFK
and let's be honest, is opposition has been underated. In that span he fought: Buentello (solid decent fighter) Hunt (former K! grand prix champ, beat Crocop and Wand in MMA) Crocop Sylvester (solid fighter, who gave a real close one to Bojanski in K1, and has a decent MMA resume) Thompson (Has a glass jaw but he's a spoiler, can beat some good guy. He has beaten judo gold medallist and japanese superstar Yoshida, and former cage rage champion Tedodradze) Fujiita (was well on the wayy down, so was a pretty crap matchup) Rogers I'm not saying that it's an incredible resume, but it's far from as bad as you guy says.
well, it's certainly better than Gonzaga resume (before the title shot) , wich was enough to give him a title shot in the UFC
He didn't defend his title for over 2 years, I'm talking Strikeforce, not bums in japan and K-1 matches. I know who he's fought, and NEVER call me Kiddie again.
