Former UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum is slated to face Ben Rothwell at UFC 211 in Dallas, Texas on May 13th.
Werdum has been one of the elite fighters in the heavyweight division for a number of years having won seven of his last eight bouts and is coming into this on the back of his unanimous decision victory over Travis Browne at UFC 203. This put him back in the win column having lost his title to Stipe Miocic in his previous outing at UFC 198 last year.
The Brazilian was scheduled to rematch Cain Velasquez at UFC 207 in December, but the fight was canceled after Velasquez was once again ruled out through injury.
No.5 ranked Rothwell is coming off a unanimous decision loss to Junior dos Santos last year which snapped his four-fight winning streak including victories over the likes of Alistair Overeem and Matt Mitrione. The 35-year-old will be hoping he can get back to winning ways and put himself in contention for a title shot.
This fight definitely isn’t Werdum’s first choice especially since the former champion is currently the No.1 contender in the division and No.4 ranked JDS has been given a shot against the champion Miocic instead.
It could be seen as something of a snub that he’ll have to settle for fighting in the co-main event at UFC 211 however a win over Rothwell would put him front in line to become the next title contender against the winner of the Miocic vs. JDS rematch.
