Alexander Gustafsson Reveals He Sparred With Fabricio Werdum: ‘I Won’

Gustafsson, Werdum Had Hard Sparring Session

Alexander Gustafsson will collide with Fabricio Werdum next month — but not for the first time.

Gustafsson makes his heavyweight debut when he fights Werdum on the main card of the Fight Island event taking place July 25. However, the Swede has already had a taste of what it was like to face the former UFC heavyweight champion.

That’s because of a sparring session the pair had 10 years ago which the “Mauler” claims to have won.

“I’ve sparred with Werdum, actually, ten years ago,” Gustafsson told MMANytt. “It was at Mark Muñoz’ gym in Los Angeles. He was champion then, and he was fit. It was a strong version of Werdum then.

“I’d had a fight two weeks before, and we went at it hard. I’d say that I won that sparring. So we have a bit of a past.”

What happens in sparring doesn’t stay in sparring, apparently.

But it wasn’t a regular sparring session either. In fact, a “gym fight” is a more appropriate term for what went down according to MMANytt’s sources.

Gustafsson would more or less confirm that was the case.

“Yeah he came in with knees to the head. But we both went all in. It was good sparring. I won that sparring. It was kind of fun,” he added with a smile.

Both Gustafsson and Werdum are on two-fight losing streaks and will be looking to change that next month. The July 25 event will be headlined by a middleweight bout between Robert Whittaker and Darren Till.

Who do you have winning on Fight Island?