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Fabricio Werdum offers to train Alex Pereira for hypothetical Jon Jones matchup

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Ultimate Fighting Championship great Fabricio Werdum is preparing to make the transition into coaching as he grows older.

At the tender age of 47, Werdum knows his time in competition is coming to a close. He is not quite done, despite last competing at Gamebred FC 5 in 2023 in a bare-knuckle match with Junior dos Santos. His slate predictably less packed given that he is no longer regularly fighting, Werdum is ready and willing to train other fighters to give back to the sport in a different way. In an interview with Sherdog on Thursday, Werdum discussed who he has his sights on to work with in the near future as well as what lays in store for him.

One can count “Vai Cavalo” among the many impressed by Jon Jones’ recent performance against Stipe Miocic at UFC 309, and he thinks he might be able to have what it takes to help a standout competitor get the edge on Jones. That fighter? Alex Pereira, who is considering his next test between Jones and Magomed Ankalaev.

“In both cases, [Pereira] has great chances [of being] taken down,” Werdum explained. “Against Jones, I would say, it is almost impossible to not be thrown. Jones was able to take [Daniel] Cormier down. My point is to anticipate the movement to fall in a good position, unlike Miocic, [who took heavy damage when taken down]. The main goal of a good guard is not to get hit, and that’s where I could help ‘Poatan,’ with my progressive guard. But we would need at least two months. [Beating] Jones via points is difficult, but if he uses my tactics, I think he can win via knockout.”

Even though he noted that with his assistance, Pereira could beat Jones, Werdum was nonetheless gobsmacked by how well Jones has acclimated to the heavyweight division. After just two fights, the former champ believes that Jones is already among the greatest to ever do it at that weight.

“I have to put Fedor [Emelianenko] [on my heavyweight Mount Rushmore]; Jon Jones, after beating Miocic; ‘Minotauro’ [Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira] and [Mirko Filipovic] ‘Cro Cop,’” Werdum listed, while also suggesting that Jones is the greatest pound-for-pound fighter in the sport’s history.

If he does not get his wish to help train Pereira, Werdum is ready to focus back on himself. According to the Brazilian, he has a secret pending fight offer that he is considering, one that might make waves.

“My manager Ali [Abdelaziz] didn’t allow me to give details,” Werdum hinted. “All I can say is that it’s a new MMA event and my opponent is also a former champion.”




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Ultimate Fighting Championship great Fabricio Werdum is preparing to make the transition into coaching as he grows older.

At the tender age of 47, Werdum knows his time in competition is coming to a close. He is not quite done, despite last competing at Gamebred FC 5 in 2023 in a bare-knuckle match with Junior dos Santos. His slate predictably less packed given that he is no longer regularly fighting, Werdum is ready and willing to train other fighters to give back to the sport in a different way. In an interview with Sherdog on Thursday, Werdum discussed who he has his sights on to work with in the near future as well as what lays in store for him.

One can count “Vai Cavalo” among the many impressed by Jon Jones’ recent performance against Stipe Miocic at UFC 309, and he thinks he might be able to have what it takes to help a standout competitor get the edge on Jones. That fighter? Alex Pereira, who is considering his next test between Jones and Magomed Ankalaev.

“In both cases, [Pereira] has great chances [of being] taken down,” Werdum explained. “Against Jones, I would say, it is almost impossible to not be thrown. Jones was able to take [Daniel] Cormier down. My point is to anticipate the movement to fall in a good position, unlike Miocic, [who took heavy damage when taken down]. The main goal of a good guard is not to get hit, and that’s where I could help ‘Poatan,’ with my progressive guard. But we would need at least two months. [Beating] Jones via points is difficult, but if he uses my tactics, I think he can win via knockout.”

Even though he noted that with his assistance, Pereira could beat Jones, Werdum was nonetheless gobsmacked by how well Jones has acclimated to the heavyweight division. After just two fights, the former champ believes that Jones is already among the greatest to ever do it at that weight.

“I have to put Fedor [Emelianenko] [on my heavyweight Mount Rushmore]; Jon Jones, after beating Miocic; ‘Minotauro’ [Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira] and [Mirko Filipovic] ‘Cro Cop,’” Werdum listed, while also suggesting that Jones is the greatest pound-for-pound fighter in the sport’s history.

If he does not get his wish to help train Pereira, Werdum is ready to focus back on himself. According to the Brazilian, he has a secret pending fight offer that he is considering, one that might make waves.

“My manager Ali [Abdelaziz] didn’t allow me to give details,” Werdum hinted. “All I can say is that it’s a new MMA event and my opponent is also a former champion.”




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A cool offer and you would think Alex would take it up, guy is always traveling and training, and this would be a great help. Plus they both have great upbeat sense of humour.

WAR POATAN!! WAR WERDUM!
 
Train him to lose? Werdum has no elite skills anywhere. He couldn't even beat Stipe.
 
OMG YES! Thanks Fabricio! This is the best case scenero for Alex. If he picks up from Werdume, Alex will no doubt be the greatest fighter ever.
 
I don't think it'd help much, but I like it.
 
Werdum helped Mirko tremendously in preparation for Fedor, specifically with defense from his back. After training with Werdum, Mirko was able to give Fedor fits from the guard. He kept Fedor tight and didn't let him posture up to GnP.

Oddly Mirko did a better job of defending from his back against Fedor than Big Nog was able to do. Nog's mistake was that he was too offensive, using a double wrist control game and fishing for the submission, which gave Fedor too much space to work and thus he was able to posture up and brutalize Nog. It's better to be defensive against someone like that.

Werdum helped Mirko with that and working with Werdum expedited Mirkos progress. Werdum taught him small hacks which made Mirkos game more efficient and that made a world of difference in his fight with Fedor. If I was Alex I'd definitely take this invitation. Glover is a great BJJ coach but he was always more of a top game smasher type.
 
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Well I think it will help at the least. So I don't mind this. Werdum is one of best fighters on their backs. So it's a win win situation for Poatan.
 
Baited Fedor into his first defeat. Can't take that away.
Unfortunately he got carried away with the troll face then proceeded to get ko'd by Stipe in a careless fashion
 
You couldn't get a much better grappling trainer than Fabricio but Alex is just too slow to match Aspinall, Jones and Pavlovich. I doubt Alex would last 1 round with any of them in an MMA fight.
 
I thought he was brain damaged and couldn’t work? Not sure if this is a
Smart move for him while in the middle of a legal case. Surely it would have been better to keep a strategy secret.
 
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