LOS ANGELES — Ever the instigator, UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor has taken to prodding lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos about his country of residence in the buildup to their UFC 197, 155-pound title fight in Las Vegas on March 6.
Dos Anjos, a native of Niteroi, Brazil, has permanently relocated to Orange County, Calif. In the eyes of McGregor, who bleeds Irish green, this is akin to turning your back on your homeland.
"We're sending Rafael on a four-day media run throughout Brazil, and we've got to book him a hotel," McGregor said at Wednesday's UFC 197 press conference. "I've got to book him a hotel in his own home country. That should tell you all you need to know."
To that, UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum can only shake his head and laugh.
Werdum is dos Anjos' friend and camp mate at the Kings MMA gym in Huntington Beach. He's found success in combat sports by making himself a citizen of the world. The 38-year old from Fortaleza, Brazil, has competed on five different continents and lived on four, which helped mold him first into a four-time World Jiu-Jitsu Championships gold medalist and then into a world champion mixed martial artist.
As far as Werdum is concerned, there are no borders in the fight world, no culture in which you can't learn and grow.
"I've been all over the world, man," said Werdum, who defends his UFC heavyweight title against Cain Velasquez in the main event of UFC 196 rematch on Feb. 6. "I've lived for two years in Croatia, one year in Japan, Brazil, Spain, and all those different countries. It's okay, man. Just try to live your life. Why you stay in Brazil, when you live in all different countries you have a good life? You just go, and try to have a good life with your family."
But then, Werdum is used to being second-guessed by this point. He's watched Kings MMA grow from its founding in 2008, when it was just him, trainer Rafael Cordeiro, and a handful of others, into one of the few gyms in MMA history to boast two UFC champions at once.
All along the way, Werdum has been doubted. Early in his career they called him "just a jiu-jitsu player" with no standup. He was supposed to be just another victim of Fedor Emelianenko when the two met in Strikeforce in 2010. Instead, he ended Emelianenko's legendary, decade-long winning streak with a choke in under two minutes. He wasn't supposed to be beat Travis Browne in a number-one contenders' bout in 2014, and instead he tore Browne apart for five rounds.
And he definitely wasn't supposed to beat Velasquez for the title at UFC 188 in Mexico City. But Werdum dominated Velasquez in claiming a third-round submission and the title. Afterwards, Werdum heard that Mexico City's elevation - officially 7,380 feet – was the reason for Velasquez's loss, and that things will be different when they meet closer to sea level.
"I don't understand one thing," said Werdum. "It's just, why was it high altitude for him? Why just for him? It was high altitude for me, too. I was very tired. People say it was an easy fight. That's not true. It was a very hard fight."
Werdum, who is fluent in Spanish and serves as a color commentator on UFC Spanish-language broadcasts, conducted his entire two-month UFC 188 camp in Mexico, spending $50,000 out of pocket in order to acclimate. Velasquez arrived in Mexico City two weeks before the fight. Regardless, the appeal of the rematch is in putting to rest the notion the thin air had anything to do with his victory.
"I think he'll have good shape this time, and this time now, Feb. 6, he'll come very strong," Werdum said. "His game, he goes forward all the time. I think he'll change a little bit, I think he'll try to take me down, and I think he'll come up again. He's scary, but I gotta do it again."
Werdum says he wants to be known as the greatest heavyweight mixed martial arts fighter of all-time. If that sounds a bit farfetched at first glance, stop and consider his resumé. He has submitted former PRIDE champions Emelianenko and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, who are frequently name-checked as the two greatest 265ers in MMA history. And he's also submitted Velasquez, who was knocking on the door for the heavyweight GOAT title, and submitted former Strikeforce champ Ailstair Overeem (though Overeem won a rematch).
If he can also become the first person in the 21-year history of the heavyweight (previously Superfight) title to successfully defend his title twice, it will become hard to argue against Werdum's case.
So let McGregor pop off about Brazilian expatriates. The approach has netted dos Anjos UFC gold and has enabled Werdum to dream big.
"I want the fans to say 'Werdum is the best heavyweight in history,' " Werdum said. "When I had other goals, just jiu-jitsu, I had world championship four times. I put in my mind, I want to be best in the world in submissions, I got it two times at [Abu Dhabi Combat Club]. When I put in my mind, I'm gonna UFC champion, I got it."
Follow Dave Doyle on Twitter: @DaveDoyleMMA
