Junior dos Santos withdraws from grappling match with Fabricio Werdum

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Former UFC heavyweight champions Junior dos Santos and Fabricio Werdum will no longer meet in a grappling match on Aug. 8, “Cigano” announced Monday. The heavyweight duo was scheduled to compete at Kings Championship in Florianopolis, Brazil. The promotion has yet to announce if Werdum will be given a different opponent unless he’s also off the card. Dos Santos said he’s still open to grappling with Werdum in the future. “Cigano” and “Vai Cavalo” fought twice under MMA rules with a pair of wins for dos Santos. First, he scored a massive upset with a 81-second knockout against Werdum at UFC 90 in 2009. They rematched 14 years later in bare-knuckle MMA, when “Cigano” won a decision. Dos Santos was away from competition since scoring back-to-back victories at Gamebred Bareknuckle MMA, beating Werdum and then claiming the heavyweight title by knocking out Alan Belcher in 2024, when he returned to MMA this past May on the MVP show on Netflix, losing by knockout to Robelis Despaigne. Werdum’s decision defeat against “Cigano” was his first appearance in combat sports since retiring from MMA in 2024, shortly after a controversial bout with Renan Ferreira in his sole appearance under the PFL banner.