Fabricio Werdum to Host Former Rival Junior dos Santos as Podcast Guest

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The rivalry between former UFC heavyweight champions Junior dos Santos and Fabricio Werdum was once considered one of the sport’s fiercest.

After spending 15 years taking shots at each other through the media, dos Santos and Werdum buried the hatchet over three rounds at Gamebred Fighting Championship 5 this past September. Despite losing a spllit decision, Werdum was moved by dos Santos’ respectful post-fight speech and decided to end the rivalry by inviting “Cigano to participate on his “Dos Nossos” podcast.

“Last year I recorded 65 editions in Florianopolis, where I live, but it was difficult to bring guests from Rio and Sao Paulo,” Werdum told Sherdog.com. “Now I’m starting a new phase recording in a studio in Sao Paulo, and ‘Cigano ‘was the first one I invited. Even though he’s in the middle of a camp to face Alan Belcher for the Gamebred heavyweight title, ‘Cigano’ immediately accepted my invitation. It's going to be historical. Me and Cigano live [on Feb. 3]

According to Werdum, dos Santos initially asked for a ticket to come from Florida to Sao Paulo Saturday morning and return home that same night. That proved to be impossible, so dos Santos instead will arrive on Friday and return home Sunday morning.

“I can't wait to get him at the airport. I told him we will recall every chapter of our rivalry live with the fans and also told him that we will have to decide who [is the best heavyweight]: me, him or [Cain] Velasquez. He beat me twice, but lost to Velasquez twice and won once, and I submitted Velasquez. So we need to decide who is whose father,” Werdum said with a laugh.

Werdum’s sense of humor has made him a popular listen among Brazilian fans. His podcast did well in 2023 thanks to the presence of a number of notable names such as Alex Pereira, Gilbert Burns, Lyoto Machida, Wanderlei Silva, Rafael Cordeiro, Mauricio Rua, Rafael dos Anjos, Norma Dumont, Cristiane Justino, Thiago Santos, Bruno Silva, Marcus Almeida and Wallid Ismail.

Although he turns 47 years old in July, Werdum guaranteed that he is not retired yet.

“I asked Gamebred to fight against Roy Nelson, who just lost to Belcher,” Werdum said. “I offered that idea because we already fought in the UFC and Nelson is really popular in the USA, but they offered me a 33-year-old guy named Alex Nicholson. Since I don’t know who he is, it made no sense to me to accept, but I'm not done. I´m also open to a grappling superfight. I would love to face Gordon Ryan in the rules of grappling with slaps allowed.”