Following a stunning first-round TKO loss to Junior dos Santos, then relatively unknown, no one was prognosticating a future in which Fabricio Werdum would be crowned the UFC heavyweight champion.
Werdum, however, picked himself up off the Zuffa scrap heap and embarked on one of the greatest career resurgences in the history of the sport.
Since the loss to dos Santos, Werdum has racked up a remarkable 9-1 record, culminating in his stunning decimation of longtime UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez at UFC 188 in June. During that six-year run of brilliance, Vai Cavalo signaled his ascension among the sport's elite heavyweights with a spectacular submission victory over the legendary Fedor Emelianenko at a Strikeforce event in 2010.
Emelianenko had gone undefeated for more than a decade before the loss to Werdum. With Emelianenko's return to MMA on the horizon, the UFC champion is open to welcoming The Last Emperor back into the fold with a rematch - preferably on a card headlined by Jose Aldo and Conor McGregor.
"I would like to fight on the Aldo vs. McGregor card if possible," Werdum told Fox Sports' Damon Martin. "I think I could help draw in even more Brazilian fans to the fights as well as fans from Central America. Especially if it will be in Texas or Las Vegas. It doesn't matter who I fight. I'm the champ. If you are the best you should have no problem fighting anybody.
"I am hearing that Fedor (Emelianenko) is coming back. If he wants to be known as the best of all time he has to fight the best. All the best heavyweights are in the UFC. I would be willing to rematch him to solidify who is the best heavyweight of all time. But who I fight is up to the UFC."
