Fabrício Werdum is the big star of UFC Australia this Saturday

F. Werdum (left) catches M. Tybura (right) (Photo: Reproduction Twitter UFC_AUSNZ)

Brazilian MMA fans who tune in to UFC Australia this Saturday (18) looking for a compatriot to support will have to wait until the main fight. In a rare occurrence in the organization, Ultimate lands in Sydney with just one athlete from the country in action: the former heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum, who will be part of the main attraction of the show in a duel against the Polish Marcin tybura. “Vai Cavalo” seeks his second consecutive victory after the controversial setback against alistair overeem and he knows that a victory this Saturday will bring him closer to the race for the belt that he already had between 2015 and 2016.

See too

At 40, Werdum rules out retirement and guarantees: 'I'll be champion again'

Jones supports Werdum and fires at Covington: 'You're sad'

Fabrício Werdum is the clear favorite against Tybura at UFC Australia

In addition to Werdum x Tybura, UFC Australia will have two interesting duels between welterweights. Two heavy-handed changers, Tim means e Belal Muhammad | seek to establish themselves with new victories towards the category ranking, while Jake matthews and Bojan Velickovic are looking to recover from tough defeats to confirm their status as promises in the division.

PUBLICITY:

The preliminary portion of the show also features a duel between former training partners and current enemies. The light ones Nik lentz and Will Brooks trained together at American Top Team, but since Lentz left the team, the two have been exchanging barbs on social media – the duel was originally supposed to take place in October, but “Carnage” got sick and the former Bellator champion was left without an opponent . The fight ended up rescheduled for this Saturday.

Werdum near the top – again

F. Werdum is the only former champion of UFC Australia (Photo: Reproduction Twitter ufc_brasil)

PUBLICITY:

In the midst of a busy week, with the right to fights with Colby covington, Fabricio Werdum returns to the Octagon just over a month after finishing Walt Harris at UFC 216. At that time, the Brazilian would face Derrick Lewis, but the American had back problems on the day of the fight and was replaced by “Big Ticket”. The jiu-jitsu black belt showed all his mastery on the ground and needed just 65 seconds to settle the bill.

Without injuries from the last fight, “Vai Cavalo” soon agreed to replace Mark Hunt against the dangerous Marcin tybura. Number eight in the heavyweight rankings, the Pole has won three consecutive victories, including a decision over the former champion Andrei Arlovski and knockouts over Luis Henrique KLB and Viktor Pesta.

PUBLICITY:

Werdum knows that a victory will not immediately put him up against Stipe Miocic, current champion, again. But the Brazilian remains active in search of a chance at the belt and could eventually be in line, behind only the winner of Francis Ngannou x alistair overeem, which will take place at UFC 218 on December 2.

Welterweight future and present

T. Means (left) catches B. Muhammad (right) (Photo: Reproduction YouTube UFC)

In addition to the main fight, two welterweight fights stand out in the main portion of UFC Australia. First, Belal Muhammad |, which comes from two important victories (against Randy Brown and Jordan Mein), seeks to maintain the positive streak with an eye on the division ranking. Already Tim means, his opponent, recovered well from his submission defeat to Alex Cowboy by dominating Alex Garcia, and is also eyeing a place among the top 15 athletes at 77 kg. from the UFC.

PUBLICITY:

On the other hand, UFC Australia will also bring a duel between promises. Bojan Velickovic, who showed aggression in all his fights, needs to recover from the tough setback he suffered to Darren till. Your opponent, Jake matthews, has shown more value so far in the UFC, but is in a worse situation: he lost his last two fights, to Kevin Lee and Andrew Holbrook. Whoever wins will be close to confirming the future status of the division.

Former friends, now enemies

N. Lentz (left) has trained with W. Brooks (right) (Photo: Reproduction YouTube UFC)

The story has become common in the UFC. Former training partners, two athletes fall out when one changes course and a fight between them becomes inevitable. As happened recently with TJ Dillashaw e cody garbrandt, Will Brooks and Nik lentz They went from friends to enemies and will face off at UFC Australia.

Former Bellator champion, Brooks has not had an easy life since arriving in Ultimate. After starting his career with a victory over Ross Pearson, the American suffered two tough defeats against Brazilians. First, he ended up being knocked out by Alex Cowboy and then it was finished by Charles Oliveira. “Ill Will” sees the duel with his former friend as a chance for redemption.

Lentz was once among the best at featherweight, but the severe weight cut made him move back up to lightweight, with mixed results. Coming from defeat to Islam makhachev, “Carnage” beat Danny Castillo and Michael McBride before the most recent setback. The duel with Brooks would be part of UFC 216, but Lentz felt ill on the day of the weigh-in and the fight will now take place in Australia.