Fabricio Werdum made his PFL debut against Renan Ferreira yesterday at PFL 3
Werdum’s PFL debut didn’t go as planned as he succumbed to a first-round TKO defeat to Ferreira at PFL 3 (2021).
The 43-year old chose not to re-sign with the UFC last year and signed a deal with the PFL in November 2020.
After almost 6 months, he made his debut, only to lose in the very first round. However, it was marred with controversy since a lot of people in the MMA community felt that referee Keith Peterson did not spot Ferreira tapping to Werdum, just before the TKO.
UFC Welterweight Gilbert Burns chimed in as well. He compared the incident with the Anderson Silva vs Chael Sonnen 1 incident at UFC 117, when referee Jose Rosenthal spotted Sonnen’s tap (not quite evident) towards the very end of the fight, and awarded the win to Anderson Silva.
Burns then went on to say that the result must be overturned and Werdum should be declared the winner.
Durinho tweeted:
“Same thing happened Anderson Silva vs Chael Sonnen but the referee was right there and stop it! @FabricioWerdum won overturn this fight and give him the 6 points he deserves! @PFLMMA @espnmma @AliAbdelaziz00.”
Here is the Chael Sonnen vs Anderson Silva incident:
Fabricio Werdum was left fuming after his undeserving defeat
Werdum was clearly unhappy with the way things panned out for him. With great hopes and expectations the former UFC heavyweight champion made his PFL debut, only to be ruined by the referee (consensus opinion).
After the fight, he claimed that it was very evident that Ferreira tapped, which was the reason he let go. And, that was when Ferreira started unleashing bombs, thereby knocking out Werdum.
A dejected Werdum said:
“I think everybody saw the fight. He tapped and I have to respect my opponent. I have to stop. Maybe I break his arm or put him to sleep. When he tap I automatically stop the fight but he keep going to punch my head. But I stopped because he tapped.” [via BloodyElbow]
Already in the twilight of his career, Werdum will be kicking himself for the way things went about.
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