 vs
UFC 80: Rapid Fire
Saturday January 19, 2008 9:00PM (EST)
Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Fabricio Werdum
Werdum+200
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Two Brazilian heavyweights square off in the UFC octagon with both BJJ fighters coming off loses. Gabriel "Napão" Gonzaga (9-2) lost to Randy Couture most recently at UFC 74: Respect, while Fabricio Werdum (9-3-1) lost a very boring 3 round decision to former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski.
At +200 at most online sportsbooks, Werdum is a great bet to make since most North American fans are judging Werdum by his last performance. Let’s not forget, prior to Werdum’s lose in the UFC, he was considered a top 10 heavyweight in the world. Fabricio Werdum is an incredible striker and from the famed Chute Boxe Academy and his striking coupled with his BJJ makes him an all round fighter. Gonzaga who fights under Team Link is also a well rounded fighter and is equal to Werdum in almost every category except for experience and fighting top level opponents.
Despite Werdum’s boring lose to Arlovski he should beat Gonzaga quite easily. His first fight in the UFC can be chalked up to the Pride curse and now that he has acclimated to the UFC octagon, he will put on a way better show than his first fight at UFC 70: Nations Collide.
Werdum has fought some of the toughest heavyweight in the world like Aleksander Emelianenko, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at PRIDE Critical Countdown Absolute, Alistair Overeem at PRIDE Total Elimination Absolute, Sergei Kharitonov at PRIDE 30 Fully Loaded, Roman Zentsov at PRIDE Final Conflict 2005, Tom Erikson at PRIDE 29 Fists of Fire and Ebenezer Fontes Braga. All of these fighters are top ten heavy weight at one time, while Gonzaga has only fought two reputable fighters in Couture and Mirko Cro Cop. Yes Gonzaga had an explosive win over Cro Cop but Couture exposed Gonzaga's lack of experience and other weakness in the stand up.
Gonzaga does have better jujitsu than Werdum, but his skills do not overwhelm him and he won’t have anything that catches him off guard. This fight will be won in the stand up and Werdum has much better lower leg kicks and high kicks. Being training partners with Cro Cop, he can give Werdum inside information on his current fight game.
Werdum is a just more dangerous fighter and he will be more determined to put on a better MMA fight than what he fought against Arlovski. Gonzaga was badly beat down by Randy Couture as he was completely ineffective. For a fighter it is hard to bounce back from such a beat down.
Bottom Line: Werdum has already beat Gonzaga in the past with a second round KO at JF 1: Jungle Fight 1. Werdum is a much bigger threat in the stand up and he will be able to keep Gonzaga off his game with inside and outside legs kicks before he goes high.
Werdum avenges his training partners KO with a second round KO of Gonzaga
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