Fabricio Werdum: Cain Velasquez rematch will happen in Brazilian soccer stadium

Fabricio Werdum might get what he was hoping for in 2016.

The UFC heavyweight champion told MMAFighting.com in August that he was hoping to rematch Cain Velasquez at the 60,000-seat Arena do Gremio soccer stadium in Porto Alegre. It’s unlikely that the fight will take place there, but it looks like he will headline a soccer stadium event after all.

Sources close to the UFC told MMAFighting.com that the promotion is working on hosting a pay-per-view card at the 42,000-seat Arena da Baixada stadium in Curitiba in March, and Werdum confirmed it’s highly likely to happen.

"It’s not 100 percent yet, but the fight will happen in March," Werdum told MMAFighting.com. "I wanted it to take place in Porto Alegre, but Gremio’s soccer stadium doesn’t have a roof. There’s a soccer stadium in Curitiba with a retractable roof, so it’s probably going to be there. This fight will happen in a soccer stadium because a lot of people are waiting for this."

Werdum won the UFC interim heavyweight title after knocking out Mark Hunt in Mexico City in 2014, and choked out Velasquez to win the undisputed gold seven months later, again in Mexico.

"I’m trying hard to take this fight to Brazil," Werdum said. "I’ve fought at his home twice. He wasn’t there to fight the first time, and I fought him the second time. It’s my turn now."