Travis Browne Apparently Injured In UFC on FOX 11 Loss To Fabricio Werdum

Fabricio Werdum returned to action last night, as he dominated the favourite Travis Browne during their five round main event tilt. ‘Hapa’ looked out of his depth against ‘Vai Cavalo’, as Werdum won the fight standing and on the mat. It was later revealed by Dana White that Browne that injuries may have hindered Browne’s abilities last night:

Dana: Travis May have suffered a broken rib in first. Definitely broken hand.

— UFC (@ufc) April 20, 2014

The injuries may explain why Browne gassed so early on in the fight, but we can’t judge Werdum’s performance on how ‘Hapa’ may have fought without injuries. What we can do is analyse how Werdum would do against the heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez. The win against Browne puts ‘Vai Cavalo’ in to his deepest waters yet, and there are many questions to be asked.

The first being, how will Werdum keep up with the pace of Velasquez? The Brazilian certainly kept the pressure on Browne, although he was unable to capitalize with a finish, but Velasquez works at a much higher rate than ‘Hapa’-even at full strength. Werdum showed improved stand up, but what can he offer Velasquez that Junior dos Santos, Antonio Silva and so many others didn’t?

Obviously every fight is different, and anything can happen, but I just don’t see how Werdum would be a challenge to Velasquez. Now, back to Browne, this is the second time that he has been injured during a number one contender bout. Back at UFC on FX in 2012, Browne suffered his first loss as a pro, to the giant Brazilian ‘Bigfoot’ Silva. ‘Hapa’ suffered a torn hamstring before being battered on the feet to a first round TKO by Silva.

Perhaps the gutsy Hawaiian is pushing himself too hard in training, or maybe the fact is that heavyweights all possess the power to break each other. Whatever the case, it’s back to the drawing board for Browne, and on to a probably ill-fated title shot for Werdum.

Photo Credit: Winslow Townson USA Today Sports