Nobody likes the idea of the UFC title scene reduced to a series of do-overs.
In a sport that prides itself on fast-paced action and definitive outcomes, rematches—immediate or otherwise—usually aren’t the best strategy. Thrilling multi-fight feuds like Randy Couture vs. Chuck Liddell or Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard are exceptions, not the rule.
The rule is typically a lot more underwhelming.
After recent title rematches in the middleweight, welterweight and bantamweight divisions and upcoming reruns expected at flyweight and women’s bantamweight, you can’t blame fans who are hungry for fresh meat.
It was no surprise, then, that there was considerable pushback last week when matchmakers announced that Fabricio Werdum will follow his stunning heavyweight title win over Cain Velasquez at UFC 188 with—you guessed it—a second fight against Velasquez.
Apparently, this isn’t what the people wanted to see:
Despite the poor early reviews, the putting Werdum and Velasquez together again so soon is a necessary if not exactly ideal move. Simply put, there are too many lingering questions about their first meeting—and those questions need answers.
Besides, if you buy the idea that Werdum and Velasquez are the two best heavyweights in the world right now—and you should—there’s just no better option. The sport’s most unstable championship could do a lot worse than have these two dudes spend the next few months quarreling over it.
Would fans eventually like to see Stipe Miocic get his chance? Absolutely.
Did Andrei Arlovski seem deserving? Sure, why not.
Could Junior dos Santos have gotten the call? Possibly.
But the fact is, Werdum-Velasquez II beats them all in terms of marketability, interesting plot points and pure fun.
From the moment Werdum emerged from their initial three-round battle with the gold strapped around his waist, we knew this tandem would end up fighting again.
So, really, why wait? Time is never on your side in the 265-pound division. If the UFC has the opportunity for a special series between the 38-year-old champion and the hard-charging former champ, the time is now.
Few people expected Werdum to defeat Velasquez in Mexico City in June, but in retrospect the warning signs probably should have been more apparent.
Velasquez hadn’t fought in nearly 20 months and was coming off a knee injury that prompted the postponement of their first scheduled meeting at UFC 180. He arrived in the country allowing just two weeks to adjust to the altitude, while Werdum had been making his home in Mexico for some time.
Still, at least early on, it seemed like this would be Cain’s night.
Velasquez started the fight with his usual fury, clearly winning the first round with his standard high-pressure, high-volume offense. By the latter half of the second, however, he was wilting, and Werdum had begun picking him apart with deft striking combinations.
Werdum stunned him with an uppercut late in the stanza, and in Velasquez’s corner prior to the third, UFC cameras picked up an uncharacteristic amount of nervousness from his usually steady American Kickboxing Academy coaches. Velasquez did his best to follow their advice, but his face was a bloody mess and he was obviously fatigued.
He left his neck exposed during a sloppy takedown attempt just over two minutes into the third, and Werdum made him pay—locking up a guillotine choke that forced Velasquez to tap away the title.
A bit more than two months later, we still have queries.
For Velasquez: Was it Werdum’s evolving offense or the altitude that ultimately did him in? At 33 years old and on the heels of what seems like his umpteenth injury delay, can “Cardio Cain” still be the tireless, hyper-aggressive, hyper-athletic fighter who first took the title from Brock Lesnar back in 2010?
For Werdum, things are a bit more cut-and-dried: He just needs to beat Velasquez at sea level.
Even after compiling a 5-0 record since his return to the UFC in 2012, Werdum came into their first fight as more than a 4-1 underdog. His victory makes him a candidate as greatest comeback story in MMA history, but it seems like some observers still aren’t buying him as the new “baddest man on the planet.”
Case in point: This week Velasquez opened as the slight favorite in their rematch.
For his part, Werdum seems to have made peace with the idea that he’s going to see Velasquez again soon. He’s made his preference known for a stadium show in Brazil, though the smart money says that this fight ends up going down somewhere stateside early next year.
"I offered him a rematch after the fight because I respect him,” Werdum told MMA Fighting.com’s Guilherme Cruz recently. “... After that, fans started saying Cain didn’t deserve a rematch because I dominated him, and I got into it as well. But I respect Cain. He was the best in the world one day, and I will give him a rematch, no problem."
With a suddenly simmering crop of challengers now waiting in the wings, the UFC has also moved quickly to keep them busy.
Miocic will take on Ben Rothwell in October. That should function as a de facto title eliminator for Miocic, as long as he can win it.
Arlovski will meet Frank Mir at UFC 191 next month, in a bout that might have happened any year during the last decade-and-a-half.
Dos Santos is expected to have a date with Alistair Overeem, though that has yet to be confirmed.
All of that should be enough to keep the heavyweight seas churning while Velasquez vs. Werdum fight a second time.
No, it’s not perfect. But as much as we want conclusive, unimpeachable answers from every UFC title fight, that’s just not practical. Sometimes we have to circle back for a second look, to make sure we actually saw what we thought we did.
And hey, when that involves the best fighting the best one—or maybe two—more times, it should be tough to complain.
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