It takes a certain type of courage to step foot in the Octagon against the hardest hitters in mixed martial arts.
Fabricio Werdum displayed plenty of that bravery during his ascent to the pinnacle of the UFC’s heavyweight division and while he might have lost his belt two and a half years ago, he’s clearly not lost any of his courage.
Werdum put his own life at risk recently when he rushed to save a pair of teenagers who began struggling in the ocean at a beach near Werdum’s home in Torrance, California.
Emergency services arrived on the scene but only one lifeguard was brought along and when Werdum realised that his athleticism was required, he began swimming.
The Brazilian, who is regarded as one of the greatest heavyweights of all time, assisted with one teen while the trained lifeguard helped the other to safety.
“When we saw the fireman’s car, the car stopped in front of us. I said I was going to help, and Karine (his wife) wasn’t sure, because it was dangerous,” Werdum told Brazilian web site AgFight.com, as translated by MMA Junkie. “But when I looked, there were two tiny heads at sea yelling ‘help.’ They were very far, about 70 meters away. When the lifeguard grabbed the board by himself, I took off my coat and ran. I took the orange floater, threw it across my chest, and I arrived with him, a little further ahead even. I told him to get the girl, who was screaming a lot, and I got the boy, who was already limp. I was able to get him, and we swam toward the beach.
“Then, at shore, an old man helped me. The waves were big. The girl sank about three times.”
Werdum recently requested his release from the UFC after being hit with a two-year suspension for a United States Anti-Doping violation.
