Fabricio Werdum has had a bit of a mercurial career as a fighter. The elite grappler of the heavyweight division, Werdum has been fairly one dimensional as a fighter. On his feet he’s traditionally been an average at best striker. His strength is on the ground; when the fight goes to the mat Werdum is the best grappler in the heavyweight division and perhaps the best in the sport alongside Roger Gracie and Demian Maia. His striking has improved, slowly but surely, and against a hard chinned Roy Nelson at UFC 143 Werdum showed something he hasn’t shown in MMA: a complete and well rounded game.
It was a testament early on to Nelson that Werdum grabbed Nelson’s back and was positioning for a rear naked choke that the fight didn’t end there. The few times Werdum got the fight to the ground he was frustrated by Nelson. But when the fight went to their feet Werdum showed remarkable standup prowess in cruising to a 30-27 decision over Nelson.
Using the Muay Thai plum clinch to land a number of strong knee strikes and using good head movement to set up some strong leg strikes, Werdum obviously spent plenty of time working on his standup since his decision loss to Alistair Overeem. The fact that Nelson wasn’t stopped by any number of knees that landed flush is remarkable; Nelson might have the toughest chin in the division right now. Any other fighter would probably have been knocked out by it. That in itself isn’t all that remarkable. Junior Dos Santos couldn’t stop Nelson despite landing a number of flush punches to the face so the fact that Werdum couldn’t isn’t a slight to the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu master.
What it is, however, is a testament to how far Werdum’s striking has come. He looked comfortable on his feet and for the first time in his career looked like a complete fighter. Werdum has been considered a top five fighter in the division since he submitted Fedor two years ago but it’s been a hard sell for many. It became even louder when he lost to Overeem in poor fashion, as it became more apparent to some that Dos Santos and Cain Velasquez were head and shoulders above the rest of the division than he was a great fighter.
Werdum as a fighter was still one dimensional but had passable standup that allowed him to hang with the elite of the division. You couldn’t argue that Werdum was a complete fighter; he was elite on the ground and in the heavyweight division you can get away with being subpar in one division if you have one skill that’s elite. UFC 143 has changed all that.
Werdum looked comfortable standing up and now looks ready to assume the top level ranking conferred upon him since the Fedor victory. Before this fight Werdum was a threat to guys like Overeem and Dos Santos if they took it to the ground but not on the feet. Now Werdum looks like he’s ready to be able to win a fight against an elite level heavyweight on his feet.
