UFC 143 Preview – Fabricio Werdum vs Roy Nelson

In a way, I feel both these guys are two of the most underrated fighters in the UFC heavyweight division. In his UFC run, Nelson has only lost to Junior Dos Santos and to Frank Mir (in which he was sick). On the other hand, in the last four years, Werdum has only lost to Junior Dos Santos and Alistair Overeem.

In the fights in which Nelson has walked away victorious, he exhibited good knockout power and good positional grappling. He knocked out Schaub and Struve badly to earn some extra bonus money, while he had a competitive fight with Mirko Cro Cop. He was able to briefly get a crucifix on Cro Cop, which is impressive even though Cro Cop is way past his prime.

In his post-PRIDE run, Werdum had a bad losing effort against Arlovski but went on to soundly beat Vera and Gonzaga. He lost to JDS and would go on to fight in Strikeforce. His second fight there saw him survive some early danger against Antonio Silva to comeback and win via decision. He would then go on to end Fedor Emelianenko’s historic run by tapping him out via triangle choke.

Both these guys are evenly matched up, both hit awfully hard and have good submission skills. But I feel that Werdum has slightly better technique both on the ground (he is an ADCC Champion) and on the feet.