Fabrício Werdum: "I have the weapons to win this GP”
This week Strikeforce has officially announced a heavyweight GP which promises to mix things on MMA’s market. Chosen to participate of the GP, Fabrício Werdum is training hard and motivated to conquest this tournament. Recovered from the injury that put him off the rings for six months, the world champion of Jiu-Jitsu and champion of ADCC is sharpen his conditioning to get 100% o February 12th, when he’ll face Alistair Overeem on the first phase of the GP. “I’ll finish him again, you can bet on it”, promises Werdum, who might confront, on the second step of the tournament, the Russian Fedor Emelianenko, a guy he has submitted last year. Despite cheering for Big Foot, the Brazilian who currently lives on the United States wants to give the Russian a rematch. “To Fedor I’ll concede this rematch happily, because I like him and he deserves this rematch”, said Werdum, on the exclusive interview that you check below.
How are the trainings going? Are you 100% recovered from your injury?
From the injury I’m totally recovered, but I still ain’t on my best physically. I’m training enough to get it back. Everyday I go to Huntington Beach to train with Rafael (Cordeiro). I train with him from 11am to 1pm every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I have a special training with Jason Miller and Mark Muñoz. We do a sparring and train Wrestling with Muñoz.
You’ll face Alistair Overeem, a guy you’ve submitted in Pride, in 2006, on the fisrt round of the tournament. What are your expectations for this fight?
The expectations are as high as they can get. Being trained I can fight anyone. I’ve changed my mind. Before I entered there thinking about my opponent, now I get there thinking of me, how I’ll get to him and what I can do. We both evolved a lot. Overeem evolved a lot on the floor and he’s stronger and more experienced. When we fought in 2006, I pretend to do it for a while, fooled him a bit (laughs). Now I’m training a lot my bang but it still isn’t good for me to bang with him. The guy has just won K-1, so I’ll try to go for the ground, even because he was training his bang a lot and he didn’t have enough time to improve his ground game for this fight with me.
Will this be your game plan?
The fight will be very tactic, it’ll be like the one of 2006 and I’ll catch him again, you can bet on it. I’ll beat him with my game plan and smartness. The longer it gets, the better it is for be because he has a background that proves he’s not resistant. I’ll tire him up, bring him to the ground and finish the fight.
On the same side of the key Strikeforce matched Fedor Emelianenko and Antônio Big Foot, two guys you’ve beaten. What is your bet for this fight?
Fedor is hungry for a win, because he has just lost to me and he wants to win again. But I’ve talked to Big Foot and he also wants to win pretty bad. Between two heavyweights, anything can happen, there’s o favorite. Big Foot is very tough, can handle much and has heavy hands.
Technically, your side of the key is stronger, is where the favorites are. Why do you think that Strikeforce matched the fights this way?
I believe they did it that way so that they can sell many pay-per-view subscriptions on the semifinals and on the finale. They’re betting I’ll beat Overeem and that Fedor beats Big Foot, because they know everybody wants that rematch. So, they want to guarantee a good semifinal so that they sell it out and they’re betting on it. Who doesn’t want to watch a rematch like this one?
On the other side of the key there’s Sergei Kharitonov against Andrei Arlovski and Josh Barnett facing Brett Rogers. How do you think these fights with end like?
Kharitonov wins, because he’ll go for it the entire time. Arlovski is good when he’s attacking, but when he’s attacked he backs up and I bet the Russian will beat him. On the bout between Barnett and Rogers I’m 100% Barnett because once he put Rogers on the ground, he’ll turn him into a turtle (laughs).
Both Kharitoov and Arlovski has beaten you. Do you think about fighting them again?
What I think about is a rematch with Fedor. I wouldn’t like to give Overeem this rematch, I’m just fighting because the event matched this fight. To Fedor I’ll give this rematch happily, because I like him and he deserves this rematch. But first I have to think about how I’ll beat Overeem so that rematch can happen.
You’ve fought on the greatest MMA events of the world, but you’ve never conquered a belt. How are you facing this opportunity?
It’d be a dream come true wining this GP. I’ve fought only one GP, which was Pride’s, in 2006, when I beat Overeem on the first phase and then lost to Minotauro on the second one. Back than I lacked experience, but today, being trained and more experienced, I have the weapons to win this GP.
http://www.tatame.com/2011/01/07/Fabricio-Werdum--I-have-the-weapons-to-win-this-GP
