Interim Heavyweight Champ Fabricio Werdum Optimistic About Facing Cain Velasquez in June

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While it has not been officially announced by the promotion, Fabricio Werdum recently revealed through his social media accounts that his heavyweight title unification bout against Cain Velasquez will be held at UFC 188 in Mexico on June 13.

The current interim champion explained to Sherdog.com why that particular month is special to him.

“June is a very good month to me. I beat Fedor [Emelianenko] on the [June] 26th, and I beat [Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in June] as well,” he said. “I got a lot of important wins in my career in June. Now I am fighting on the 13th, and 13 plus 13 is 26, so I guess it means something. Everybody says 13 is bad luck, but I think for me it will be good luck.”

Vamos com tudo de novo! Allí estaremos una vez mas! Here we go! #ufcmexico2 #nemmeviu #mishuevos #UFC #heeeeeyyy #osss #televisa

Una foto publicada por Fabricio Werdum (@werdum) el Ene 14, 2015 at 11:16 PST

Werdum would have liked the fight to take place in his hometown of Porto Alegre, Brazil, which hosts a UFC event for the first time on Feb. 22. However, as a commentator for UFC Network in Latin America, Werdum still feels good about fighting in Mexico. “Vai Cavalo” defeated Mark Hunt via second-round technical knockout at UFC 180 in Mexico City on Nov. 15 to capture the interim crown.

“I'm just so glad. I was prepared to fight Velasquez when he had that injury, which happens, but I was there. I was 100 percent,” Werdum said. "[The] first UFC in Mexico was a big success: 24,000 tickets sold in eight hours. Even though my fight with Velasquez didn't happen, it was successful. I'm happy to fight once again there. I wish it would be in Brazil. It would definitely be great in Porto Alegre, but I'm so happy.”

The Brazilian said he plans on spending a decent portion of his training camp in Mexico in order to get accustomed to the country's atmosphere.

“I've got a six-month-camp ahead of me, and I've already begun. After my fight, I had a lot of commitments. I traveled with the belt to many towns in Brazil and Mexico. It was good to relax, because I had trained a lot expecting Velasquez,” Werdum said.

“Now the focus will be the same. It's plenty of time, so I have to be careful not to overtrain, as I did [before facing Alistair Overeem in Strikeforce]. I want to be exactly as prepared as I was in the Mark Hunt fight. If I must stay two or three months training in Mexico, I'll do it, because this is a belt-unification fight, and it is another huge goal in my life."

Vinicius Giglio contributed to this report