Fabricio Werdum may see a return to the UFC this year. The Athletic’s Shaheen-Al Shatti reports that former UFC heavyweight champion “Fabricio Werdum has been granted a 10-month reduction to his two-year suspension per USADA.” Shatti also reports that the reason why he’s receiving a reduction was due to him giving “Substantial assistance.” Werdum will now be eligible to compete as of April 1, 2020.
Werdum received the reduction to due to the "substantial assistance" clause — meaning he provided "information that leads to the discovery of another violation or which results in a criminal or disciplinary body discovering an offense."
— Shaheen Al-Shatti (@shaunalshatti) January 16, 2020
MMA Junkie’s Matt Erickson and Fernanda Prates reported on September 30, 2018, per USADA that Werdum tested positive for “The steroid trenbolone and its metabolite epitrenbolone in an out-of-competition test in April.” What’s interesting besides Werdum returning and providing “Substantial assistance,” is that it condemned the thought of giving USADA information that can be used against others. Erickson and Prates also transcribed an interview between Combate and Werdum.
In the interview, Werdum said, “For the guy to make me an offer like that, to snitch on someone, that goes against my principles. I can’t tell on someone. Even if I knew, I wouldn’t do it. How am I going to snitch on someone to make it better for me, to lower my suspension or whatever?” Now it seems Werdum has changed his tune and will look to get back in the heavyweight division.
The last time Werdum competed he lost in the 4th round by knockout by Alexander Volkov at UFC Fight Night 127 on March 17, 2018. With wins over heavyweight greats like Fedor Emelianenko, Cain Velasquez, and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Werdum can be considered one of the greatest MMA heavyweights of all time. Werdum will be 42 years old by the time he will be eligible to compete again.