Fabricio Werdum Challenges Francis Ngannou to Fight at Brazilian Soccer Stadium

Fabricio
Werdum has entered the Francis
Ngannou sweepstakes.

After Ngannou confirmed his
signing with the PFL, Werdum published a video on his Instagram
account challenging “The Predator” to face him at a soccer stadium
in Brazil. The video shows Werdum being cheered at Gremio Arena,
where he was celebrated after winning the UFC heavyweight crown in
2015.

“We brought 48,000 to Curitiba to see my fight with [Stipe
Miocic] in the UFC, which is already the national record for an
MMA event in Brazil and one of the top five biggest audiences in
UFC history. I have no doubt that if Ngannou accepts my challenge
to fight at Gremio soccer stadium we will pack the arena with
60,000 people and beat that record,” Werdum said.

Werdum says he would relish the role of underdog in a hypothetical
matchup against Ngannou. It’s a position with which he is quite
familiar.

“I love to fight as underdog,” he said. “I was also huge underdog
against Fedor [Emelianenko] and Cain [Velasquez], and they tapped
out. Ngganou has holes in his game and I’ll show that by tapping
him out with my jiu-jitsu.”

The 45-year-old Werdum has not competed since his controversial PFL
bout against Renan
Ferreira in May 2021, which was initially ruled a TKO defeat
but later
overturned to a no contest when it was determined his opponent
tapped earlier in the fight. Earlier this year, he revealed that he
had
fulfilled the terms of his existing PFL contract and was only
interesting in competing again for the right offer. It appears that
Ngannou’s signing has piqued his interest for a PFL return.

“We both signed with PFL [and] we are both former UFC champions,”
Werdum said. “That’s the fight fans and PFL want. I’m just waiting
on him to sign the contract.”

Ngannou is not expected to make his PFL debut until 2024 as he
pursues potential fights in professional boxing.