Fabricio Werdum lays out plans for Fedor Emelianenko rematch

Fabricio Werdum plans on leaving the UFC and setting up a rematch with fellow heavyweight legend Fedor Emelianenko.

Werdum, the former UFC heavyweight champion, competed on the main card of Saturday’s UFC Fight Island 3 event, defeating three-time light heavyweight title challenger Alexander Gustafsson by first-round submission.

The bout marked the final obligation on Werdum’s current UFC contract, and ahead of the fight, he made no secret of the fact that he intends to take his MMA career elsewhere.

““There’s no possibility (of renewing my UFC contract),” Werdum said to AG Fight. “All those years with the UFC have been good. We had a good relationship. We disagreed sometimes, but those things happen in a normal relationship. I’m thankful to the UFC for all these years. It’s practically where I made my career. I’ve always wanted to join the UFC and they gave me that opportunity twice. I was fired and asked to come back because I kept bothering them about it. But the cycle is over. It was a good cycle so far. Now I want to move on with my career, I want to do it my way. Maybe I’ll fight for a different company, I’ve fought for many of them, I want to have choices.”

After beating Gustafsson, Werdum seems to be a little more open to sticking with the UFC. However, the heavyweight legend says he’s keen to leave the promotion and seek out a rematch with Fedor Emelianenko, who he defeated in a stunning upset in 2010.

“I don’t know if I’m staying in the UFC or not or maybe with a different (promotion),” Werdum said (via MMA Junkie). “I won’t stop (fighting). One hundred percent I’m not stopping. I have a couple fights (left). I told you before, I’m very young. My mind is young.

“I want to fight with Fedor, 100 percent,” Werdum added. “I respect him a lot. I want to give this opportunity to him to fight with me again. This has history: Me vs. Fedor in 2010. Ten years later, everybody wants to see this fight. I don’t know where, but for sure I want to fight with Fedor because I respect him. In my mind, he is the best in the world.”

Emelianenko has spent the last few years of his career fighting under the Bellator banner, so this could imply Werdum is interested in fighting there.

Does a rematch between Fabricio Werdum and Fedor Emelianenko interest you?