Fabricio Werdum

Fabricio “Vai Cavalo” Werdum, 42, of Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil just proved that he is one of the Ultimate Fighting Championship athletes with the best ground game. The Brazilian mixed martial arts veteran was one of the winners at “UFC on ESPN 14.”

Featuring 15 MMA bouts, “UFC on ESPN 14” took place on the UFC Fight Island on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates on July 25, 2020 in the United States or July 26, 2020 in the UAE. In the 13th bout of the evening, Werdum fought Alexander “The Mauler” Gustafsson, 33, of Stockholm, Sweden in the heavyweight division.

Herb Dean served as the referee of the heavyweight contest. He put a stop to the bout after 2 minutes and 30 seconds in the first round when Werdum submitted Gustafsson via armbar.

Winning at “UFC on ESPN 14” improved Werdum’s professional MMA record to 24 wins, 9 losses and 1 draw. It was the 11th time the Brazilian MMA fighter submitted an opponent in a professional MMA bout.

On the other hand, Gustafsson now has 18 wins and 7 losses. “UFC on ESPN 14”  marked his seventh loss in the UFC.

No Fight of the Night bonus was awarded at “UFC on ESPN 14.” There were six Performance of the Night winners namely Werdum, Tanner “The Bulldozer” Boser, 28, of Canada, Paul “Bearjew” Craig, 32, of Scotland, Khamzat “Borz” Chimaev, 26, of Sweden, Jesse “The Body Snatcher” Ronson, 34, of Canada and Tom Aspinall, 27, of England.

Werdum was born in Porto Alegre on July 30, 1977. He is a 2nd degree black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Octavio “Ratinho” Cuto, black belt in Muay Thai under Rafael Cordeiro and black belt in judo. 

As an MMA fighter, Werdum has been competing professionally since 2002. He made his UFC debut in 2007.

The first UFC opponents Werdum defeated were Gabriel Gonzaga, Brandon Vera, Roy Nelson, Mike Russow, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Mark Hunt, Cain Velasquez, Walt Harris and Marcin Tybura and Travis Browne, who he defeated twice. Here is the Porto Alegre native’s “UFC on ESPN 14” post-fight interview: