Photo: Mike Colón
Now recovered from the elbow surgery he underwent after his win over Fedor Emelianenko, Fabrício Werdum is already back to training at full blast. The fighter is doing a series of seminars around the world, after which he will turn his attention back to his next opponent, most likely Alistair Overeem for the Strikeforce heavyweight belt.
In the interview to follow, the Jiu-Jitsu black belt offers some tips to Roger Gracie, who has a match coming up on December 4 against Mike Kyle, an opponent Werdum submitted via guillotine at a past Strikeforce event.
Werdum submits Mike Kyle. Photo: Esther Lin
You submitted Mike Kyle before. What advice would you give Roger for his next fight.
I’m positive Roger will beat Mike Kyle; that I’m sure of. I’d tell him to do some boxing, because he has a really good straight punch. It’s basic, but it’s been working. He can use that, but to tell you the truth, he has to take it to the ground. He has to fool Mike a bit standing and, when he least expects it, take it to the ground. Kyle is weak on the ground and, if he lands there, there’ll be nothing he can do. Roger will swallow him, tap him out. Mike knows Roger will try to take him down. He’s certainly training a lot of takedown defense, but I feel it won’t do him any good.
But do you feel Kyle can offer Roger any danger?
Depending on how Roger goes about shooting for the takedown, he could eat a knee. He also has to watch out for Mike Kyle’s strikes, they’re hard, but nothing out of the ordinary. If he’s careful when he shoots and watches out for the straight punch, Roger will do fine.
Werdum back at training. Photo: personal archive.
Have you recovered from the operation? When do you fight next?
I fight in February or March. I’m already back at training. I just had an awesome training session only with professionals. Me, Mark Munoz, Krysztof Soszynski, Babalu, Jason Miller, Ryo Chonan… I’ll send you a picture! Now I’m going to take a long trip, teach some seminars. Then I’ll train for the fight. They really want me to face Alistair Overeem for the belt. There’s a good chance that matchup will be made. But something could turn up in Japan or even Abu Dhabi. My contract is only exclusive in the United States.
Tell us about your world tour…
Friday I’m heading to Europe and I’ll only be back from this trip on November 10. Rafael (Cordeiro) is coming with me and I’ll do the first seminar with him, on October 16 in Madrid. Then he’ll return home and I’ll continue on in my trip. I’ll be abroad for forty days, in Spain, France, Croatia, Abu Dhabi, Japan… I’ll do twelve seminars. I’ll be there to accompany the guys who will fight in Abu Dhabi and, perhaps, teach the Sheikh a class over there. I managed to bunch everything together just so I’ll be able to concentrate only on my next fight afterwards.
Check out Werdum’s itinerary:
14th and 15th – Zaragoza, Spain
16th – Big seminar in Madrid, Spain
17th and 18th – Bordeaux, France
20th to 24th – Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
27th to 29th – Croatia
30th – Seville, Spain
31st – San Sebastian del Norte, Spain
November
5th to 10th – Two seminars in Japan
