Ex-UFC Champ Fabricio Werdum Joins Professional Fighters League for 2021 Season

The Professional Fighters League heavyweight division just got a lot more interesting.

The organization announced on Monday that it has signed former UFC champion Fabricio Werdum, who will make his debut during the 2021 season. The 43-year-old Brazilian has competed for the UFC, Strikeforce and Pride Fighting Championships over the course of a 34-bout professional tenure that began in 2002.

Werdum joins a PFL heavyweight division that includes 2019 champion Ali Isaev, Denis Goltsov, Justin Willis and Mohammed Usman, to name a few.

“I am excited to announce Fabricio Werdum, the Tom Brady of MMA, has signed with the Professional Fighters League,” PFL CEO Peter Murray said in a release. “Fabricio is one of the greatest heavyweights of all time and knows when he steps into the PFL cage this coming season, it is more than a fight. The PFL sport season format provides an opportunity to control his destiny, like all PFL fighters, with a transparent shot to earn another major global title and the PFL million-dollar champions belt.”

A two-time Abu Dhabi Combat Club world heavyweight champion, Werdum is coming off a first-round armbar of Alexander Gustafsson at UFC on ESPN 14 on July 25. The Kings MMA product owns a 24-9-1 mark that includes wins over a laundry list of notable names such as Cain Velasquez, Fedor Emelianenko, Mark Hunt, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Alistair Overeem, among others.

The PFL 2021 Season begins April 23 on ESPN2, with other events set for April 29, May 6, June 10, June 17 and June 25.