Fabricio Werdum Says Fedor Emelianenko Rematch Is In ‘Advanced’ Talks

A rematch between Fabricio Werdum and Fedor Emelianenko could be on the horizon.

Back on June 26, 2010, Werdum shocked the world. “Vai Cavalo” was a massive underdog going into his showdown with Emelianenko under the Strikeforce banner. Emelianenko had gone 27-0, 1 NC in his last 28 outings. Many felt “The Last Emperor” would knock Werdum out and move on to challenge Alistair Overeem for the Strikeforce Heavyweight Title. It wasn’t meant to be as Werdum submitted Emelianenko in the first round.

Since that time, many have wondered if Werdum and Emelianenko would ever share the cage a second time. The challenge in making that a reality was the fact that Werdum had signed on with the UFC and Emelianenko eventually moved to Bellator.

Fast forward to the fall of 2020 and Werdum is a free agent. During an interview with Canal Encarada, Werdum said he’s in talks with Bellator to score a rematch with Emelianenko (via MMAFighting.com).

“(The talks) really are advanced. Ali went there last week, had the talk, and now it’s a matter of Fedor accepting. And he said the other day in an interview that he wanted to do this rematch as well. Since I have a huge respect for Fedor, I’d definitely give him a rematch — not only for that, but also the financial side, the promotion, the whole history we had.”

Since the fight with Fedor, Werdum has gone 10-5. He even captured UFC gold along the way. As for Emelianenko, he has gone 8-4 since the stunning defeat to “Val Cavalo.”

Emelianenko was in the midst of his farewell tour before the COVID-19 pandemic took effect. He got the tour started by stopping Quinton “Rampage” Jackson via TKO in the first round back on December 29, 2019 in Saitama, Japan. Emelianenko has not committed to retiring once the tour has concluded. “The Last Emperor” says it boils down to how he’s feeling once the tour ends.