{"id":39774,"date":"2026-08-07T05:46:29","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T05:46:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/news\/news\/Fabricio-Werdum-turns-down-Rousimar-Palhares-challenge-202266"},"modified":"2026-08-07T05:46:29","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T05:46:29","slug":"fabricio-werdum-turns-down-rousimar-palhares-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/fabricio-werdum-turns-down-rousimar-palhares-challenge\/","title":{"rendered":"Fabricio Werdum turns down Rousimar Palhares\u2019 challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
<\/div>\n

Fabricio
\nWerdum<\/a> has no interest in sharing the mat with Rousimar
\nPalhares<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Palhares called out the former
\nUltimate Fighting Championship<\/a> heavyweight titleholder after
\nJunior dos
\nSantos<\/a> withdrew from their scheduled grappling match at Kings
\nChampionship 2, an event promoted by Rafael
\nCordeiro<\/a> taking place in Florianopolis, Brazil. However, Werdum
\ndeclined the matchup, citing Palhares\u2019 history of
\nsubmission-related controversies.<\/p>\n

\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Rousimar Palhares responds after Fabricio Werdum declines
\nmatchup<\/h2>\n

Shortly after dos Santos withdrew from his scheduled grappling
\nmatch with Werdum at Kings Championship 2, Palhares offered himself
\nas a replacement. The former UFC middleweight last competed in
\n2024.<\/p>\n

Werdum rejected the offer, pointing to Palhares\u2019 history of
\ncontroversial submission finishes.<\/p>\n

\u201cToquinho, I have no interest in fighting you,\u201d Werdum said in a
\nrecent interview. \u201cThe first thing we learn when we step onto the
\nmat is to let go of the submission and respect your opponent\u2019s tap.
\nYou never respected that first lesson and that\u2019s why you were
\nbanned from the sport. I respect you as a fighter, but I don\u2019t
\nadmire you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Palhares, one of MMA\u2019s most feared submission specialists, became
\nknown for incidents involving late submission releases. The
\nBrazilian was released by the UFC in 2013 after holding onto a heel
\nhook against Mike Pierce<\/a>
\ndespite repeated taps. The UFC had previously warned Palhares over
\nsimilar incidents before the Pierce bout.<\/p>\n

Palhares responded to the situation while speaking with Sherdog,
\ndisputing the idea that he had been banned from competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cWerdum: I was never banned from the sport,\u201d Palhares said. \u201cI was
\nfired because my opponents wanted to take me out of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Renowned BJJ champion Roberto “Cyborg” Abreu subsequently offered
\nto take on Palhares.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince you don\u2019t have the guts to fight me, Cyborg has already said
\nhe\u2019s willing to accept,\u201d Palhares added. \u201cNow I\u2019m just waiting for
\na promoter, either here or in the United States, to put this fight
\ntogether.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
<\/blockquote>\n

<\/center> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fabricio Werdum has no interest in sharing the mat with Rousimar Palhares. Palhares called out the former Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight titleholder after Junior dos Santos withdrew from their scheduled grappling match at Kings Championship 2, an event promoted by Rafael Cordeiro taking place in Florianopolis, Brazil. However, Werdum declined the matchup, citing Palhares\u2019 history […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39775,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[150],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-martial-arts-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39774"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39774\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}