Why/ how did Werdum peak so late?

[Squintz]

No DisHespect to Wardoom but HW has been trash for the last 4+ years. The division is and has consistently been about 5 deep during that timespan. With injuries, USADA, retirements, lack of new talent and Bellator it’s not hard to remain a contender.

Look at the current state of HW. There’s Stipe and Ngannou who are clearly the top 2. Who rounds out the top 5? Werdum, Reem and JDS? Reem just got KTFO and will never beat Stipe or Ngannou, JDS popped and that leaves Werdum. The thing is Werdum is crafty enough and has the skill set to beat Stipe and Ngannou if they fuck up. With the other guys there’s really no chance.

 

[moreorless87]

I would say though I think Werdum's been on the decline recently, obviously Stipe was too short to tell much but he looked worse the second time vs Browne to me(Browne looked worse as well) looking slower and more prone to gassing.

 

[AC1D1K]

he grew up in spain far far away from brazilian pharmacies.

 

[RagingBeringola]

Back in PRIDE, he was a beast on the ground. Nobody wanted part of that, except crazy Big Nog.

Werdum also had quite sloppy takedowns, so a key of nullifying him, was having a decent TDD.

The improvement in his standup (that is still nothing special) changed the game, since Werdum can now be a threat to any cautious striker.

As people already said here: since Werdum is not afraid to go to the ground, he can allow himself to do things others wouldn't because of the fear of being taken down

 

[Quietus]

Got better at striking, in a matter of years he went from basically being the HW Damien Maia to someone who was able to out-box Cain.

 

[thatguy1010]

hes always been impressive, never really gets outclassed as such, like, the only way to beat him is to catch him knock him out, all his other loses are competitive

 

[listrahtes]

Werdum like other wrote fought the first years in mma with next to no ground game. That started to change when he went to Chute Boxe to round out his stand up.

They really put him through the ringer and Werdum did everything possible to adapt to stand up fighting.

As a fighter from that moment on he improved a lot!

 

[Sirwastealot]

It all started turning around for him when he made the GOAT tap. It rocked the balance of the MMA world, and Werdum stole some of his powers that day.

That's also the fight he introduced us to the troll face, no coincidence.

 

[daniel san]

I'm looking over his career record right now and it looks like he's always been a beast, just never really appreciated for how good he is. He only ever lost to amazing fighters; prime Arlovski/ Nog/ JDS/ Sergei/ Miocic/ and Overeem.

No, not really. He's always been an OK fighter but he looked like shit against Arlovski and JDS. He lost because he didn't know how to strike, and he would lose to other decent HWs that can strike. Today's Werdum would dominate Werdum from a couple of years ago.

 

[AdamantiumPimmel]

He didn't reach the top until he was in his late 30s.

But he's been around forever. He's been fighting since 2002. 15 years. I remember him fighting back in PRIDE and he was good but nothing special then. A career like his is very unique!

Because he developed slow...

 

[Swarthy]

Thinly veiled Werdum on roids thread.

1/10

 

[Tuf_guy]

He didn't reach the top until he was in his late 30s.

But he's been around forever. He's been fighting since 2002. 15 years. I remember him fighting back in PRIDE and he was good but nothing special then. A career like his is very unique!

He does pushups and drinks lots of juice.

 

[UFC=Pride]

His striking improved dramatically add that to world champion level bjj it's a great combo for success.

 

[Franklin U.]

RAPHAEL CORDEIRO,

for people who aren't familiar, hes a m.thai master and Fabricio has the perfect body type to inflict this discipline. He is the reason for his evolved striking.

 

[Otto!]

Always had world class grappling, but improving his striking is what made him great.

Also, it takes years to master the boomerang throw.

 

[ticho123]

I think he used to have shitty non-BJJ training regimes. I saw a clip once of him sparring with Wanderlei, and of course Wand went close to 100% and Werdum mainly covered up and did these short little rabbit punches that he used to do. I dont know for sure if that's the only reason, but his overall game improved so much when he started striking properly.

 

[Bluesbreaker]

He finally developed some coordination on the feet. He trained with Cro Cop early on, but Werdum seemed to have little control over his limbs. He looked like a newborn puppy who hasn't gotten used to its long legs yet.

 

[Bubblun]

At minute 1.15, Wand explains why



He worked his ass off.
And an heavyweight peaking late isn't so strange, mma fighters in general peak in their 30ies.

 

[Gregoire1]

Romero, DC, Jacare peaked late too...

 

[DaPunkMinowaMan]

Werdum is underrated. He's a freakin destroyer. That flying kick right on Travis chin was a legendary UFC moment for me. Fkn epic. Who the hell does that especially at HW that was some Jackie chan shit

he did the same kick in Pride, but people forgot