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Fabricio Werdum is set to face Alexander Gustafsson this weekend in the latter's Heavyweight debut and from the look of things, this will be the end of his run with the UFC.
Fabricio Werdum has had one of the most incredible MMA journeys there is. He was signed to the UFC with a lot of hype behind him but was cut from his contract. After Fabricio Werdum's return to the promotion in 2011, he would go on to win the UFC Interim Heavyweight Championship in 2014 and unify the titles to become the Undisputed Heavyweight Champion in 2015.
He lost the title to Stipe Miocic in his first title defense and has had a mixed bag of results since then. His two-year USADA suspension was reduced to 10 months and he would return to the Octagon this past May at UFC 249, where he lost to Aleksei Oleinik.
Talking to AG Fight (H/T BJPENN.com), Fabricio Werdum confirmed that his next fight will be his last:
“There’s no possibility (of renewing my UFC contract). All those years with the UFC have been good. We had a good relationship. We disagreed sometimes, but those things happen in a normal relationship,” Fabricio Werdum said. “I’m thankful to the UFC for all these years. It’s practically where I made my career. I’ve always wanted to join the UFC and they gave me that opportunity twice. I was fired and asked to come back because I kept bothering them about it. But the cycle is over. It was a good cycle so far. Now I want to move on with my career, I want to do it my way. Maybe I’ll fight for a different company, I’ve fought for many of them, I want to have choices."
What's next for Fabricio Werdum?
It's going to be interesting to see how his fight against Alexander Gustafsson plays out. While the Swedish UFC Fighter said that he feels a lot bigger, we've seen many cases where a move up to a heavier division doesn't work out as expected.
Either way, the Swedish star will be giving Fabricio Werdum his UFC farewell and it'll mark the end of a great run.
