They may be separated by two weight classes, but Fabricio Werdum and Luke Rockhold are engaged in a war of words.
The UFC middleweight champion Rockhold declared on MMAjunkie Radio he could beat Werdum, who currently holds the heavyweight strap. In the past, Rockhold has referred to Werdum as "delusional," "self-absorbed," and "fake."
Unsurprisingly, the proud Brazilian champion thinks Rockhold has it backwards.
"Everyone in the fight business knows I'm not arrogant at all," Werdum told Combate, according to Lucas Rezende of BloodyElbow.com. "He is the one who is quite arrogant, actually. He said he would fight me, huh? The problem is that I only fight men, not wimps. He should ask (Cain) Velasquez if has any chance against me."
The origin of the feud is unclear, though some friction should be expected since Werdum took the heavyweight title from Velasquez, who's a friend and training partner of Rockhold.
Going into that fight, Werdum held an interim belt that Rockhold apparently disrespected.
"I don't know what happened, but honestly, I never really cared for Rockhold," Werdum said. "I don't like people who are full of themselves. If you're the man, you don't have to show it to other people. He has his head up his ass. I've never really talked to him.
"When I fought Velasquez, he told me some s--t before the fight. After I won, I passed by him and asked him 'Where's the fake belt now?' and all he said was 'good job.'"
The closest Werdum and Rockhold will come to meeting in the cage is if Rockhold is in Velasquez's corner for his rematch against Werdum at UFC 196 in February.
