Dos Santos: Werdum declined to fight me 3 times
Junior dos Santos is done trying to give Fabricio Werdum a rematch.
The former UFC heavyweight champion appeared on "The MMA Hour" on Monday, and he told host Ariel Helwani that Werdum has declined a second crack at dos Santos on three separate occasions.
"I'm very confused with the situation. I thought that he would like to fight me, but I don't know anymore," said dos Santos. "It's hard to say, but this guy is doing some crazy things. I think if you want to appear to have the attention of people, you have to do something significant, not just say things. And (when it's time) to prove the things you're saying, you pull out. It's kind of strange."
Dos Santos made his UFC debut in October 2008 against the heavily favored Werdum and shocked everyone by winning via 80-second knockout. According to dos Santos, the UFC offered to pair them up again this past October, but Werdum said no.
Two months later, Werdum was supposed to fight Cain Velasquez at UFC 207. That bout was canceled after Velasquez was ruled medically unfit to compete and Werdum reportedly chose not to accept dos Santos as a short-notice replacement.
Dos Santos claims that a third refusal occurred when his scheduled main event with Stefan Struve at UFC Fight Night 105 was jeopardized by a Struve injury. Werdum was asked to replace Struve, but again said no, resulting in dos Santos being removed from the card.
Tensions between the two continue to grow, with Werdum apparently threatening to meet dos Santos outside of the Octagon, much to the latter's frustration.
"The worst thing is after all of these crazy things, he comes and says he would come to my gym and beat me up? I said, 'What? What is this guy saying?'" noted dos Santos. "He just (passed on) making money fighting against me in a real fight, in a professional fight, and now he wants to come here and fight for free? Come on, what's happening with this guy?"
Dos Santos also pointed out that Werdum was critical of dos Santos calling for a title fight after a win over Ben Rothwell, and now Werdum is rumored to be fighting Rothwell for a title shot in the near future.
At this point, the cat-and-mouse games have dos Santos wanting to wash his hands of the situation.
"Why? Why am I going to fight this guy?" said dos Santos. "He denied fighting me three times. Because he was the first one in the rankings, I said this would be a good fight. A rematch, we can have a good fight here. But now he denied fighting three times with me. I don't want to fight him anymore. He's not going to add anything on my career."
Dos Santos instead expressed interest in a fourth fight with rival Cain Velasquez, or a meeting with rising stars Derrick Lewis and Francis Ngannou.