Former UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum said that his relationship with Russia's Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov is only related to MMA.
“My relationship with Kadyrov is for MMA. The political things is so different. I don’t like [the politics] in Brazil, too. I know nothing about the politics," Werdum told MMAFighting.com’s Ariel Helwani at the UFC 216 media day.
"The political things are one thing; I’m the ambassador for Chechnya MMA. MMA ambassador. That’s it. You ask about the fighters there, I say for you I have good fighters in Chechnya, big fighters. I have maybe two or three Chechnya fighters in the UFC. The guys are tough. You ask about this, for MMA, I respond for everything. But political things are so different," BloodyElbow cited him as saying.
Werdum said he doesn’t find it difficult to stay associated with Kadyrov because of the large differences between Kadyrov’s political views and MMA views. He will absolutely remain an ambassador of Kadyrov’s MMA promotion.
"For me, it’s very easy, because it’s a big difference things," the Brazilian said. "Politics and MMA. It’s a big difference".
Werdum meets Derrick Lewis on the UFC 216 main card on Saturday. The event, headlined by Tony Ferguson vs. Kevin Lee for the interim lightweight title, takes place at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
