TRAINING: For this fight I trained, as always, in my gym OUR TOWN. I also went to improve my jiu-jitsu with a friend and great champion, Luciano Correa, and then I came to put myself in the perfect condition and unite everything at TEAM ALPHA MALE. Every day I train in this place I feel better and stronger. My training days for this fight were all the same. I got up, I trained my mind, I trained MMA, boxing, wrestling or grappling. I ate, sometimes I went back to sleep one or two more times, and went back to train my mind and then I stretched my body and I go to sleep to be ready for the next day.

When and why did you start training for fighting? I started training long ago, around 2000, and I noticed I was good in kickboxing competitions. Then I started looking for something tougher, and MMA was calling and I knew it was my kind of sport.

What ranks and titles have you held? I don’t hold any tittles or official ranks because in Argentina there are no big leagues or a big franchise.

 

What does it mean for you to fight in the UFC? It means achieving an impossible dream. When I started out, my friends told me it was going to be impossible to get to fight in the UFC, yet with a lot of sacrifice, here I am.

 

Did you go to college and if so what degree did you earn? Yes, I am a physical education professor.

 

What was your job before you started fighting? I was a personal trainer and worked at gyms.

 

Specific accomplishments in amateur competition? When I was an amateur, I took part in a competition named “Super 8.” At first I wasn’t accepted because they only needed 8 fighters to dispute a title, but when one of them got injured I jumped in and I ended up defeating all of the Super 8 contestants.

 

Specific accomplishments in pro competition? I fought in Brazil against Rafael Dias, and I knocked him out in 11 seconds.

 

Favorite grappling technique: Lateral control

 

Favorite striking technique: Kicks

• Team Werdum on TUF LATAM

• Pro since 2007

• Three wins by KO, three by submission (3 RNC)

• Has finished all but two of his wins, with all finishes coming in the first round

• Was on four fight pre-TUF winning streak

• Owns 11-second KO win over WEC vet Rafael Dias in 2012