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“I Grabbed His Neck In Thai Clinch And Hit A Knee In His Face”- Fabricio Werdum On Alexander Gustafsson Sparring Practice

Published 07/15/2020, 7:09 AM EDT

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The much-awaited ‘UFC Fight Island’ will witness its concluding event with the succession of UFC Fight Night 174 ‘Whittaker vs Till’ on July 25. The headlining middleweight thriller has already garnered a lot of attention. Additionally, the heavyweight debut and return of Alexander Gustafsson has also kept the fans amazed.

Former lightweight contender Alexander “The Mauler” Gustafsson is going to break retirement and set foot inside the cage. The heavyweight will face former champion Fabricio Werdum on July 25. Moreover, he has a goal to revive his falling MMA career.

Both Fabricio Werdum and Alexander Gustafsson are currently on a two-fight losing streak and the duo is set to collide against each other to notch a desperate win in their respective pro MMA records. However, Fabricio Werdum has appeared confident about vanquishing his Swedish rival on July 25.

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Werdum stated that he once hit Gustafsson so badly that ‘The Mauler’ got five stitches on his head. Although Alexander Gustafsson hasn’t responded to those claims yet, it has definitely intensified their upcoming face-off for the fans.

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Fabricio Werdum believes he will finish Alexander Gustafsson in their upcoming encounter

via Imago

During an interaction with Sherdog.com, The Brazilian UFC fighter said that he will submit Alexander Gustafsson on his heavyweight debut. To validate the statement, Werdum revealed that eight years ago had a sequential sparring session with Travis Browne and Alexander Gustafsson where he smashed Gustafsson at Mark Munoz’s academy.

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According to Werdum, he expected rotational sparring. But, the trainer put him in the middle with both Brown and Gustafsson coming at sequence. “First, I did it with Browne, later with Gustafsson and again with Browne and again with Gustafsson. In that second sparring session, Gustafsson opened a cut on my nose, then I grabbed his neck in a Thai clinch and hit a knee in his face, which opened a big cut.

“I imagine he got around five stitches in there. Of course, Gustafsson and his trainer got angry with me, said a couple of bad words and the sparring didn’t finish in a good atmosphere,” said Fabricio Werdum to Sherdog.com.

via Imago

When asked about his upcoming matchup against Alexander Gustafsson, Fabricio Werdum said that he is going to finish ‘The Mauler’ by submitting him inside the octagon. “Gustafsson knows I want to take him down, and that’s no secret. And I´ll take him down and submit him. I live on the same street as Lyoto Machida, and he is helping me a lot concerning approach and distance for this fight.” told Werdum.

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Written by:

Raj Sarkar

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A senior boxing writer at EssentiallySports, Raj Sarkar is a mass media graduate who is currently pursuing his master’s degree in broadcast journalism. In addition to his current role, he has worked with the MMA team at EssentiallySports and has interviewed prominent fighters such as Ritu Phogat and 'The Red King' Rory MacDonald. He combined his bachelor's degree with his adoration for combat sports and has a combined 2000 plus bylines in MMA and boxing over the last two years.
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