Miocic manager on Werdum withdrawal: Strip him if he can fight

Stipe Miocic manager Greg Kalikas thinks the UFC should take the belt away from UFC heavyweight champ Fabricio Werdum if he’s really able to fight at UFC 196.

“If you’re the champion and you’re healthy enough to fight, and you refuse to fight because you don’t like the matchup against any specific opponent, you should be stripped,” Kalikas today told MMAjunkie.

Following news of Werdum’s (20-5-1 MMA, 8-2 UFC) withdrawal from UFC 196, which arrived less than 24 hours after ex-champ Cain Velasquez (13-2 MMA, 11-2 UFC) withdrew due to injury, Kalikas told MMAjunkie he doesn’t want to rush to judgement on the situation, but he is frustrated at the way things turned out.

“I understand if you’re legitimately injured any you can’t fight against Cain – that’s one thing,” he said. “But if you’re healthy enough to fight one guy, but refuse to fight another guy on two weeks’ notice, then to me you’re not the real champion. You should take on all comers, and the UFC should strip him if that’s the case.

“I don’t know what the facts are – I’m going by what I’ve heard so far. But it’s embarrassing if that’s really the situation.”

Werdum today told MMAjunkie he suffered a cracked toe in his right foot and hasn’t trained in the past two weeks. Regardless of the injury, he said, he planned to fight ex-champ Cain Velasquez at UFC 196. But this past Friday, he suffered a “hard sprain” on his back and couldn’t train properly. Thus, he decided to pull out of the bout.

Until Monday afternoon, Miocic (14-2 MMA, 8-2 UFC) was celebrating a long-awaited – and loudly campaigned – title shot against champ Werdum. Now, Kalikas said, the would-be contender is fuming.

Miocic’s team is now waiting for the UFC’s next move, which at the moment is unclear.

Kalkias said Miocic “wouldn’t be thrilled” about an interim title situation and would prefer to push a title fight until March or April, whether or not Werdum was the one holding the belt.

The severity of Werdum’s injury is likely to be a point of contention as the situation unfolds, but Kalikas said it’s not the first time he’s questioned the champ’s choices.

“He wants no part of Stipe,” the manager said. “We’ve thought that for a long time now. We tried to get the Werdum fight a few years ago, and he didn’t want any part of him then, and apparently doesn’t want any part of him now.”

For more on UFC 196, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.