Modern Fighting

Thiago Alves def. Matt Hughes – TKO (Strikes) R2
Michael Bisping def. Jason Day – TKO (Strikes) R1
Mike Swick def. Marcus Davis – Unanimous Decision
Thales Leites def. Nathan Marquardt – Split Decision
Fabricio Werdum def. Brandon Vera – TKO (Strikes) R1
Martin Kampmann def. Jorge Rivera – Tapout (Guillotine Choke) R1
Matt Wiman def. Thiago Tavares – KO (Punch) R2
Kevin Burns def. Roan Carneiro – Tapout (Triangle Choke) R2
Luiz Cane def. Jason Lambert – TKO (Strikes) R1
Paul Taylor def. Jess Liaudin – Split Decision
Antoni Hardonk def. Eddie Sanchez – TKO (Strikes) R2

 By Thomas Gerbasi

30. It’s the age when some athletes start to feel a few more aches and pains than they used to, when the reaction time isn’t what it used to be, and when they start to lose a little bit off the fastball. It’s a scary time.

Strangely though, history has shown that heavyweight fighters – whether boxers or mixed martial artists – don’t start to peak until they hit that milestone, and if his last bout with Gabriel Gonzaga is any indication, that’s good news for heavyweight contender Fabricio Werdum, who takes on highly-touted Brandon Vera on June 7th on London’s UFC 85 card.

“With age comes experience,” Werdum told UFC.com through translator Julio Heller. “In jiu-jitsu I reached the top in my division, and it’s always good to look for new challenges. I see my career in a new stage now; I can see myself as a complete fighter now, and MMA is fantastic because it gives me the opportunity to learn and practice other martial arts.”

Werdum’s credentials on the mat are impeccable – two-time Jiu-Jitsu world champion, 2007 ADCC world champion, European Jiu-Jitsu champion, and the owner of a Black Belt in Jiu-Jitsu and a Brown Belt in judo. Six of his ten MMA wins have also come via submission. But it was Werdum’s standup that provoked questions among hardcore MMA fans, especially after a less than scintillating decision loss to Andrei Arlovski in his UFC debut in April of 2007.

So Werdum took matters into his own hands, joining up with Brazil’s famed Chute Boxe team to sew up any holes in his game.

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