UFC 80: Werdum vs. Gonzaga The Fight of the Night? Wedum Thinks So
Sherdog’s Gleidson Venga spoke with Fabricio Werdum recently regarding his upcoming bout with Gabriel Gonzaga set for Saturday night. In the interview, Werdum spoke about how Chute Box has improved his “aggressiveness” and that his striking and ground game have improved significantly. He realizes that Gonzaga has improved greatly, but he has also improved his skills significantly since their Jungle Fight showdown back in September of 2003. Werdum told Venga that the rematch should produce the fight of the night.The fight itself hasn’t been touted as being a matchup that can sell, but it’s definitely a battle to see who can progress toward the top of the heap. Werdum is primarily known for his slick jiu-jitsu skills, and he has shown some ground and pound technique in the past. Gonzaga is also a black belt jiu-jitsu fighters with some good striking as well. If Werdum’s striking has improved significantly by moving to Chute Box, look for this fight to produce some fireworks. Both men have well-rounded grappling, but Werdum will want to prove his striking is dangerous. Gonzaga will be more than game to strike with Werdum.
Werdum’s success at Chute Box is self-proclaimed, but their history recently doesn’t look good on paper. The Rua brothers left the team, and Wanderlei Silva moved away from Chute Box for the States. Many fighters are beginning to move toward the United States to gain a wrestling base that has been regarded as being the building blocks for a fighter. Is Chute Box’s failures recently due to the UFC’s talent base becoming more skillful in avoiding the standup and using their wrestling abilities?
It’s tough to say. Many of the Chute Box faithful have simply run into tougher fighters. Fabio Silva got brutalized by Dutch kickboxer Melvin Manhoef, Luiz Azeredo was crushed by “The Crusher” Kawajiri, Andre “Dida” Amade was defeated by Gesias Calvancante, and Daniel Acacio lost the anticipated BTT vs. Chute Box showdown at Fury FC to “Toquinho”. The only real deal currently moving up the UFC’s ladder is Thiago Silva.
Werdum’s chances may be better though. He already has a solid grappling background, and striking will only help him in the clinches, especially with better Muay Thai training. Werdum is confident that his striking skills will improve his game immensely, and when we heard he was moving to Chute Box, most MMA fans agreed that it was the right move for his career. This should be a much closer fight than many believe, and it should be exciting to see if Werdum’s improvement can counter “Napao”.
fight of the night??? whos he kidding. maybe im wrong on this but it looks like a 3 round borefest to me. hopefully it is a great fight but i highly doubt it. gonzaga doesnt want to lose 2 in a row and fall way down the list and werdum, well same thing.
if this fight doesnt end early people will be falling asleep by the end of the fight.
just another ufc event to download cause nobody i know cares about this card enough to spend any money on it.
fight of the night - penn vs stevenson
KO of the night - marcus davis
what no ways i see a boring decision 2 bjj guys all ground fight boring
I have to disagree with you Mike.. Penn and stevenson will be a borefest because BJ will dominate a good stevenson.. Werdum and Gonzaga will put on a great show.. No one wants to see it because they aren’t huge names and they aren’t fighting for a title. Seems for the most part in the UFC if you aren’t known as a superstar or fighting for a title then you’ll never get the credit you may deserve..
i find the fight’s that sound boreing become the best, and me for one is looking forward to waching gonzaga fight mans a beast an will be champ one day,
also whats wiv all the hate towards BJ the mans a great mma fighter if u want to just see two guys punch go watch boxing!
I got Joe Daddy winning this fight. Shocking the world. That has to be the fight of the night
Dude First off I still think Gonzaga is a fluke. Before he KO’d Mirco he was a no body with horribly borring wins and in unimpresive fashion. His nice armbar victory was against a complete can and when he fought Mirco everyone was shocked by the outcome, but since that fight he got completely tooled by Randy Couture and Mirco lost a horribly bad fight to Chiek Kongo. I see Werdum dominating the standup due to Gonzaga throwing single punch and kick combo’s trying to rely on his power (which he does have) But Werdum looked good against Arlovski in the stand up (even if it was slightly borring to watch) and their BJJ is gunna be about even. I also think that Werdum will come in with the better cardio. Gonzaga can only win with a big KO hit and a lucky one at that.
To be honest, the interviews featuring Werdum are very eerie to me. I’ve seen some past interviews when he was in PRIDE, and these views of him have me thinking that the Chute Box aggression is getting in his training. He may come out explosive, and that will surprise everyone. In the first battle with Gonzaga, Werdum had some moments of tenacity in the mount, and I don’t think he wants to sit the sidelines for another long term. I think he’ll come out to show us something new.
i hope the fight is great but ive seen alot of there fights and ive never been that entertained beside mirko getting KO’ed which did surprise me and im sure others. as for werdum his last good fight was against big nog and i still wasnt that excited by his style. i want fireworks bad for any mma fight but i really dont think i will get that from these guys. gonzaga could make it a great fight if it ends quickly but werdum is good at avoiding or keeping his distance. as for penn vs stevenson i think penn could careless about this fight and stevenson will want to get that big win. i still think penn will surprise joe daddy during that fight with his flexibility and takedown defense. all penn talks about tho is fighting gsp and hughes again.