Former Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight titleholder Fabricio Werdum is ready to move on to the next stage of his career.
In September 2023, Werdum returned from a long layoff to test himself in bare-knuckle MMA. He faced former opponent Junior dos Santos at Gamebred FC 5, losing a split decision to “Cigano.” After the match, Canal Convey produced a documentary about the former champion, “Werdum, Ashima da d’Or”, documenting the latter stages of his career. The deal creates a partnership with the heavyweight, who will co-host a mixed martial arts-themed talk show called “Papo Cruzado” on the network, along with influencer Kefela Buchman. Werdum spoke to Sherdog about his new show, which will debut in the second half of 2024.
“These topics go beyond the normal routine of talking about when your next fight is, who you want to fight and how your training is going,” Werdum explained. “I thought it was cool to cover themes like “A woman’s place is on the mat,” “Celebrity vs. Martial Arts,” “I Love the Beast” and “Harassment.” [and
the] “The importance of Jiu-Jitsu in spreading the image of Brazil around the world”…the theme is different, but still within this world of fighting. ”
‘Vai Cavalo’ revealed that this first season will have 20 episodes and guests will include a number of prominent MMA fighters, coaches, and celebrities not involved in martial arts.
“Charles Oliveira, Wanderlei Silva, ‘Minotauro'” [Antonio
Rodrigo Nogueira]Demian Maia, Juliana Velasquez, Amanda Rivas, Walid Ismail, Pedro Rizzo, Murilo Bustamante, “Dede” [Andre
Pederneiras], and some big names from outside the martial arts world, such as MC Guimet, Sergio Malandro and Marcos Mion,” the heavyweight said on the list. “It’s been a really fun marathon for two weeks recording away from my family all day long here in São Paulo, but the results are really great and we’re sure we’ll reach an audience outside of our niche.”
Currently living in Florianópolis, Brazil, Werdum travels to São Paulo almost every week to record another show for the Dos Nosso Podcast. The two cities are more than 400 miles apart and about an hour’s flight. This amount of movement takes away from your training time. Despite being happy with the new phase of his career, the former UFC and ADCC champion hasn’t ruled out a return to the ring or cage if a good offer comes along. He stated that he had previously negotiated with Karate Combat to appear in the film, but the negotiations were not finalized.
“Fighting is no longer my priority,” the 46-year-old concluded, “but if an opponent with whom I have some history has an interesting offer, like with ‘Cigano’, I can definitely come back.”
