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Brazilian jiu-jitsu legend Fabricio Werdum recently announced he is considering retirement from MMA with a catch; a transition to boxing is possible. Although some MMA fighters have had success transitioning to boxing, Werdum is known for his grappling skills and not his striking.
Werdum fought 34 times as a mixed martial artist and won 24 of those with one draw. Of his 24 wins, Werdum won twelve by submission, six by KO/TKO, and five by decision. On top of that, Werdum is a four-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion and European jiu-jitsu world champion.
After parting ways with the UFC in 2020, Werdum joined the PFL with hopes of winning the $1 million prize. Unfortunately, things did not go as planned. Werdum lost his first PFL fight, which ended up being a no-contest after the referee missed Werdum's opponent tapping out.
Werdum was ready to return for his second fight with the PFL but could not get medically cleared. So what's next? In a recent interview with Ag.fight, Werdum kept it simple by saying, "boxing, yes. MMA, no."
Once the news broke, former UFC referee and current Bellator commentator 'Big' John McCarthy had this to say about the situation:
"You are a great fighter. You had a great run in the UFC and became champion. You are not a boxer. Don't do that. It's not who you are."
John McCarthy says Fabricio Werdum is not the only MMA fighter that shouldn't try boxing
Since the emergence of Jake Paul and celebrity boxing, MMA fighters have decided to take a bigger paycheck in boxing, regardless of the outcome. The result has been several MMA superstars, including Tyron Woodley and Ben Askren, getting brutally knocked out.
McCarthy made it clear that he supports Fabricio Werdum and wants him to be safe. After giving his advice to Werdum to forget about boxing, McCarthy went even further by saying:
"This whole boxing thing has to stop. There comes a point it has to stop."
To be fair, McCarthy has a valid point. We are seeing close-to-retirement MMA fighters fighting boxers in their prime. In reality, it should be the other way around to even out the massive advantage boxers have.
With that said, it's hard to tell an MMA fighter no when a potential paycheck more than they have ever made is available.
Watch John McCarthy discuss Fabricio Werdum below:
