Fabricio Werdum Talks Better Than He Fights

People usually are much more accepting of lies they tell to others than they are of lies others tell them. After all, you would never lie unless you had a good reason, like protecting someone's feelings, or to cover up a wrong that you did not intend, will never repeat, and would hurt people you care about if it were ever found out. We human beings have a way of defining right and wrong in order to give maximum credit and leniency to ourselves and much less credit to others we believe have wronged us or who have something we want and believe we are more deserving of.

A similar principle applies to our perception of other injustices. For example, Fabricio Werdum appears to be very upset with the UFC for treating him like what he is, which is a mediocre fighter who failed to generate any excitement that could be measured in dollars. He complains that Brock Lesnar did not deserve to be given a title shot against Randy Couture, whom he beat, while he wishes out loud for opponents ranked much higher than Junior Dos Santos, against whom Werdum was not able to last two minutes.

Fabricio Werdum wants Andrei Arlovski, and then he wants Fedor Emelianenko. This comes from Fighters Only Magazine, by way of Bloody Elbow. Sharing his wish list was not enough for Fabricio, though. He also wanted to share his opinion of Brock Lesnar. ("This thing of saying that Lesnar is the best in the world doesn’t exist, I’m against that. The guy has four fights and is already the world champion? Everybody knows that Fedor is the best.") Of course, Werdum is wrong about this. Fedor may be better than Brock Lesnar, but nobody 'knows' that, because they have never fought, and Lesnar possesses attributes that make it entirely reasonable to think he would beat Fedor, even if that remains a minority viewpoint as of now.

You were probably wondering, "What does Werdum think of Frank Mir?" Sayeth Fabricio: "Frank Mir also, this final among them is not real." In fact, he says that Minotauro is the only fighter in the UFC heavyweight division that is any good, and the rest are all weak. Affliction has the best fighters, according to the fighter known as "Vai Cavallo", which is Portuguese for "Horse's Ass". At least that seems to fit better than any alternative translations I can think of.

I thought it would be interesting to compare Fabricio with the fighters he is so dismissive of.

One fact that may grate on Werdum is the fact that he went 2-2 in the 'weak' UFC, and got dropped after being knocked into another dimension by Junior Dos Santos only 80 seconds into the fight. Being cut by the UFC has to sting for a man as deeply in love with himself as Fabricio Werdum is.

By contrast, Lesnar has gone 2-1 in the UFC, facing one possible Hall of Fame candidate and two legends of MMA. And the one fight he lost he appeared to be well on his way to winning until a highly questionable interruption by the referee. The other two he defeated convincingly. Fabricio Werdum feels that Lesnar did not deserve a title fight—a fight Lesnar proved he was a legitimate participant in by WINNING BY TKO. And let's not forget that Brock Lesnar can do one thing Vai Cavallo cannot: sell tickets.

Do you know anyone who has paid for tickets or a pay-per-view in order to see Fabricio headline a major MMA event? Neither do I. If Lesnar did not deserve to fight Randy Couture, whom he defeated, then Fabricio Werdum surely did not deserve a fight against Junior Dos Santos, from whom he received a beating so nasty I was hurting way up in the cheap seats (if you can call a $215 ticket cheap).

Earth to Fabricio: you deserve a title shot if you are good enough. Winning a fight is definitive proof of being good enough to be in it.

What about Frank Mir? Mir won the UFC Heavyweight Championship, and lost it when a motorcycle accident left him unable to defend his belt. The effects of the accident lasted for a couple of years, but when he returned to form, he earned his way back into a title. In his most recent fight, Mir defeated a true icon of MMA, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, to win the UFC Interim Heavyweight Championship.

I've made it pretty clear that I don't think Fabricio Werdum is as good as he thinks he is. Actually, I think Frank Mir would defeat him. I think Brock Lesnar would beat Werdum until his fists hurt, and then beat him for making his fists hurt. Werdum is not good enough to even be on the main card of a UFC event right now. Actually, not even good enough to be on the roster of a promotion whose title Mir and Lesnar will fight each other for. But enough of what I think. What does the rest of the MMA world think?

A quick check of MMA Weekly, Zewkey, and Sherdog rankings show that all three agree on two things. First, Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir are ranked in the Top Ten in all of them, and Fabricio Werdum in none of them. Fabricio's belief that he is among the elite fighters who deserve fights against main event-quality opponents is apparently not one that is shared by the folks who run popular MMA websites. My conclusion that Mir and Lesnar are among the elite and Werdum isn't seems to be the prevailing opinion throughout the MMA community.

As for Werdum ever fighting Fedor, a recent poll conducted by MMA Junkie named Brock Lesnar, not Fabricio Werdum, as the fighter with the best chance of beating Fedor. Can you imagine any poll showing support for the proposition that Werdum could beat Fedor? Wait—forget that. Do you know anyone who cares enough about Fabricio Werdum to even speculate about that fight? Fedor against Randy? For sure. Lesnar? It would be the biggest fight ever seen in MMA. Mir? Nogueira? Matching either with Emelianenko would create a megafight that would change the MMA landscape.

But what about Fabricio Werdum against Fedor? Admit it. You, I, and everyone we know would simply read about it the next day because the outcome would be nearly as predictable as if Fedor took on Stephen Hawking or Ryan Seacrest. Well, I'll admit I'd pay to see Fedor against either of those two. It would have freak show entertainment value, and neither Hawking nor Seacrest are self-infatuated pompous asses like Fabricio Werdum.

Unless Nancy Pelosi sneaks something into the stimulus bill requiring such a match to take place, Fabricio Werdum will never fight Fedor. In fact, it is highly doubtful he will ever be in the main event of a major MMA card. That is because he will most likely never deserve one. Vai Cavallo would do himself a favor by letting his accomplishments speak for themselves. They are modest and not particularly impressive, but by running his mouth, Werdum calls attention to just how little he has achieved.