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Anxiety, Superstition, Piss: Fabricio Werdum Tells All Ahead Of UFC 213

Anxiety, Superstition, Piss: Fabricio Werdum Tells All Ahead Of UFC 213

Former UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum opens up on his anxiety leading into fight night.

Jul 7, 2017 by FloCombat Staff
Anxiety, Superstition, Piss: Fabricio Werdum Tells All Ahead Of UFC 213
For FloCombat via A.G Fight

Fabrício Werdum will be back in action this Saturday, July 8, at UFC 213 to complete his trilogy against Alistair Overeem in Las Vegas.

The former UFC heavyweight champion hasn't fought since last September when he defeated Travis Browne at UFC 203. That might be a reason why "Vai Cavalo" preferred to talk everything but mixed martial arts at a recent media function. Speaking with reporters last week in Rio de Janeiro, the Brazilian opened up in matters that had nothing to do with the sport he's dedicated his life to.

Relaxed as always, Werdum seemed to worry more about his sleepwalking issue than the multiple-time combat sports world champion who will try to put him to sleep on Saturday.

"I'm not superstitious, but I feel like I have OCD," Werdum laughed. "If I see a flip-flop [upside-down] I flip [it], because I remember my godmother saying that if I don't turn [in that situation] that someone would die. I'm very anxious, I'm sleepwalking, the kind that you wake up to. The other day I realized that I had even locked the door of the house -- I'm taking care of myself.

"I've had to treat this since I was a child. I never did that [before], but I'm thinking now of doing hypnosis. I remember my mother told me once, when I was little, that I passed her and I pissed in the kitchen. So, nobody wants to sleep next to me at the hotel, neither [Rubens] Cobrinha nor [Renato] 'Babalu,' who is crazy himself. Only my brother, who is already more accustomed to it, does it."

Werdum also took the opportunity to praise his support from home: Karine, his wife, prefers not to attend his fights because she tends to get very nervous. The heavyweight's love only checks in later to find out what happened from a safe distance.

"With Karine, there is no way," Werdum said. "At the time of the fight she goes out to do something, she goes to the supermarket and takes the kids out, Julia and Joanna, and waits for the call to know if I lost or won. I like it a lot, she doesn't bother me and asks me to go to the fights together because I think it's wrong. You get to those times when you need to stay focused and stay with your team. She is different, she isn't the type of woman who just wants to be the 'woman of the fighter.'"

Confident that he's about to realize his second straight win since losing his belt, Werdum already knows what he'll do if he actually does leave the cage as the victor this weekend.

"I will celebrate my victory by leaving the team and going to a bar."