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SYDNEY – Former UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum wants a title shot after picking up his second victory in a 42-day stretch. His argument? No one in the weight class is more deserving.

“I feel for sure I deserve it,” Werdum told MMAjunkie following his unanimous decision win over Marcin Tybura in Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 121 headliner. “It’s not just now for this fight and my last fight. I’ve beat a lot of guys – Fedor Emelianenko, Cain Velasquez, Minotauro (Nogueira). I have a history. For 20 years I’ve been fighting. Not just now. I have two belts in my home. Only one fighter in the world is a jiu-jitsu champion, a submission champion and a UFC champion. It’s me.

“I don’t like when I say that, but I know this is true for sure. Given the opportunity I just want to show again. One more belt on my wall at home, I will stop after that. No, no, I’m joking.”

Werdum (23-7-1 MMA, 11-4 UFC) beat Marcin Tybura (16-3 MMA, 3-2 UFC) in lopsided fashion in the UFC Fight Night 121 main event, which took place at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney and aired on FS1. “Vai Cavalo” stepped into the fight as a short-notice replacement after beating Walt Harris by 65-second submission at UFC 216 in October, and he managed to put on another strong performance.

As a former titleholder with wins over a bevy of competition, Werdum believes he should be next to challenge current heavyweight king Stipe Miocic (17-2 MMA, 11-2 UFC). The Brazilian lost the title to Miocic by first-round knockout at UFC 198 in May 2016 and has been working toward a rematch ever since.

Currently, the winner of next month’s UFC 218 co-headliner between Alistair Overeem (43-15 MMA, 8-4 UFC) and Francis Ngannou (10-1 MMA, 5-0 UFC) figures to fight for the belt. Despite the fact he suffered a majority-decision loss to Overeem at UFC 213 in July, Werdum believes his overall resume is stronger than anyone. He’s willing to continue to fight to prove it and hopes the UFC keeps him active.

“I want to fight more,” Werdum said. “Long time ago I’ve been waiting one year for a fight. Why am I waiting like six months, seven months? I want to fight more. I want to fight maybe five times a year. This fight (Alistair) Overeem vs. Francis (Ngannou), I don’t think Francis deserves it yet because he just started (MMA) now. Overeem has a big history, too, but I think I deserve the title shot. I just want the opportunity.”

One person Werdum said he wouldn’t fight next is Derrick Lewis (18-5 MMA, 9-3 UFC), who he was scheduled to fight at UFC 216 before “The Black Beast” withdrew on fight day due to injury. Werdum said he doesn’t want to try running that fight back but also wouldn’t name any potential next opponents outside the champion.

After a quick turnaround and high-paced fight with Tybura over five rounds, Werdum said he looks forward to a brief rest, and praised his UFC Fight Night 121 opponent for the challenging scrap.

“I’m very tired, because it’s five rounds, five minutes,” Werdum said. “Tybura is a very tough fighter. I know this before. He’s a very young guy. He deserves it. I used my experience there. Everybody saw that. I tried to finish the fight a lot of times. He had good defense.”

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 121, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

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