Werdum minimizes Cigano's provocations: 'He's burning himself'

F. Werdum (photo) is the current UFC heavyweight champion. Photo: Disclosure

With an eye on competing for the UFC heavyweight belt, junior gypsy fired at the current champion, Fabricio Werdum, criticizing his compatriot for allegedly “picking opponents” for his first title defense. However, the gaucho did not accept the provocations and stated that his rival, in fact, “is burning himself out”.

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Werdum won the heavyweight title in June this year, when he submitted Cain Velazquez. Soon after that, Cigano challenged the new champion, whom he had already beaten in the past with a knockout. However, the UFC ended up opting to give Velasquez an immediate rematch, which has no set date yet.

In an interview with the “Combate” channel website, Werdum stated that he is not choosing fights. On the contrary: he guaranteed that he would face whoever the UFC chose, which includes Cigano himself. “Cigano doesn’t need to promote himself because he’s already shown what he can do to the world, but he’s burning himself out,” he explained.

“I don’t want a rematch now because I have my fight with Cain. If the UFC changes its mind and says I'm going to do a rematch with Cigano, then I'll fight. I never denied any fight, I never chose, so, whenever they want, we do it. Everything is fine now. Him against Overeem, me and Cain, so I don't have much to say right now. It would be interesting to face him, I'm in another phase, he too, would be a struggle, but I'll keep quiet. I'm not the matchmakers, like he said, but I’m the champion”, continued the current heavyweight champion.

As Werdum himself said, Cigano already has a fight scheduled, against alistair overeem, on December 19th. The fight between the gaucho and Velasquez should be made official soon, probably in early 2016.

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