Fabricio Werdum forced to withdraw from slated PFL 6 fight with Brandon Sayles

Former UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum has been forced to withdraw from his upcoming slated PFL 6 fight with Brandon Sayles.

MMAFighting.com first reported that Werdum has been forced out of the tournament, though details of his withdrawal are scarce at the moment. According to the report, it is unknown at this time if Werdum will remain part of the PFL heavyweight tournament. There has also not been a replacement opponent given to Sayles yet for his upcoming fight.

Werdum (24-9-1, 1 NC) is one of the most accomplished heavyweights in MMA history and he was looking to add to his legacy with a win in the PFL heavyweight tournament. In the first regular-season fight that Werdum had for his new promotion, he suffered an upset loss when Renan Ferreira stopped him with strikes. However, the result of that contest was overturned to a No Contest after Ferreira was deemed to have tapped out to a submission moments before he was able to finish off Werdum with heavy ground and pound strikes.

Interestingly, Werdum is withdrawing from the tournament just a day after Ferreira and his camp called PFL’s matchmaking “very shady.” Both Brazilians were expected to fight each other in a rematch given the controversy of the first fight, but PFL decided to book Werdum against Sayles and Ferreira against defending PFL champion Ali Isaev.

“All this is very shady. Ray Sefo told my management team that the Werdum rematch was the fight that made sense to do next. PFL had social media posts asking people if they wanted to see it and they said yes. Now we find out on social media I’m facing the last champion while Werdum faces Sayles,” Ferreira said about the PFL matchmaking.

Do you think Fabricio Werdum should be allowed to re-enter the PFL heavyweight tournament?