When Cain Velasquez tapped his hand on the mat at UFC 188, time stood still for a second. Outside of a flash knockout loss to Junior Dos Santos, Velasquez had looked unbeatable throughout his entire mixed martial arts career. Suddenly he was at his most vulnerable.
When Fabricio Werdum clasped onto Velasquez’s neck in Mexico City and squeezed, it brought an odd clarity to Werdum’s career. The fighter who started as a jiu-jitsu instructor for Mirko Cro-Cop did something that few other heavyweights of his generation had done: he captured the UFC world championship.
It’s not easy to figure out where Werdum ranks among heavyweights.