With Velasquez fight off UFC 207, Fabricio Werdum wants to fast-forward to rematch with champ Miocic

With his rematch against a fellow former heavyweight champion off the table for UFC 207 on Friday, Fabricio Werdum has one pretty big idea of what his next fight could be, instead.

Werdum (21-6-1 MMA, 9-3 UFC) took to his social media accounts late Christmas night and called for a rematch with heavyweight champ Stipe Miocic (16-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC).

Werdum posted a standard UFC fight announcement image at his Twitter and Instagram accounts that had been doctored to reflect the potential rematch between he and Miocic and said: “I’m just saying one thing! Will happen! # 2017 @stipemiocicufc I just have one thing to say. This MUST happen!”

Werdum was set to meet Cain Velasquez on the UFC 207 main card on Friday. But on Christmas Eve, Velasquez was pulled from the fight when the Nevada State Athletic Commission would not clear him to fight due to physical issues.

Werdum, then interim champ, beat Velasquez to unify the heavyweight title at UFC 188 in Mexico. Velasquez stopped Travis Browne with a first-round TKO at UFC 200 in July, his lone fight since the June 2015 loss to Werdum, but in the buildup to UFC 207 there was much talk about a back surgery he had planned for after the event – and what he had been doing to deal with the pain during training.

Injuries have been a regular issue for Velasquez of late. Since he beat Junior Dos Santos to recapture the heayvweight title at UFC 155 four years ago this weekend, he has fought just four times. When he lost to Werdum, he was fighting for the first time in 20 months. His return against Browne this past summer was his first fight in 13 months, though it was a spectacular bonus-winning return.

After Werdum beat Velasquez, he was scheduled to fight Velasquez in an instant rematch, but Velasquez pulled out with an injury and was replaced by Miocic. Then Werdum pulled out with an injury of his own, which pushed his first title defense against Miocic to May in his home country of Brazil.

There, Miocic knocked him out midway through the first round to win the title. He then defended it in front of his home Cleveland fans in September by knocking out Alistair Overeem in the first round. He currently does not have a fight scheduled, but it was widely believed the winner of Werdum-Velasquez 2 would challenge the champ for the belt in 2017.

With Velasquez out of the picture for the near future, Werdum believes he and Miocic might as well just fast forward to their own rematch. As champ, Miocic is No. 1 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA heavyweight rankings Werdum is No. 2, while Velasquez sits just behind at No. 3.

UFC 207 takes place Friday at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on FS1 and UFC Fight Pass, but will proceed with 10 fights in the absence of Werdum-Velasquez 2.

For more on UFC 207, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.