Fabricio Werdum was too ’emotional’ against Stipe Miocic, wants rematch after UFC 213

Fabricio Werdum wants to get back what he feels belongs to him — the UFC heavyweight championship.

But first, the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu phenom must beat Alistair Overeem in a trilogy bout at UFC 213. Werdum, 39, beat ‘The Demolition Man’ under the PRIDE banner in 2006 but lost in the rematch five years later in the Strikeforce hexagon.

‘Vai Cavalo’ lost the UFC heavyweight title to Stipe Miocic last year and believes a win over Overeem will solidify him as the next No. 1 title contender.

“After this fight, I want to fight for the title again,” Werdum told MMAjunkie in a recent interview. “This is my big goal. When I fought in jiu-jitsu competition, with a gi, I got the world championship twice. With grappling, at ADCC, I got it twice, too. Now, I have one UFC championship. I want one more, (to make it) two-two-two. I like the numbers, you know?”

The multiple-time BJJ world champion was swiftly knocked out by Miocic in the first round at UFC 198, and says he was too ’emotional’ fighting in front of his home crowd at Arena da Baixada in Curitiba, Brazil.

“With the Stipe Miocic fight, I was very emotional,” Werdum said. “I was very excited. It was in Brazil, in a stadium, 45,000 people were there. I lost my focus. I lost it. I had five rounds to beat him, and I went out there like a crazy (man). I respect Stipe Miocic, for sure, but that time in the fight I didn’t see what happened.

“I ran in and he just countered, just touched my chin. Very smart, too. Maybe in the next one, there’ll be a big difference. I want to be patient. Because five rounds is a lot, 25 minutes. And he knocked me out in two minutes, I don’t know, but it was very quick. Why did I go out there like a crazy (man)?”

Werdum rebounded with a decision win over the 6 ft 7 inch Travis Browne at UFC 203 and plans to keep the momentum going heading into UFC 213.

“My opinion, my feeling is that I’ve changed a lot,” Werdum said when asked about his second encounter with Overeem in 2011. “The first time, I knew just jiu-jitsu. But now, I train Muay Thai. I think I’m a very complete guy today. He’s very smart when he fights, but I don’t think he changed his game in everything. Like, a complete difference. He changed a little bit because he has a lot of experience, that’s it.”

UFC 213, which features Werdum vs. Overeem on the main card, takes place Saturday, July 8 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.