Werdum and Tarverdyan chewed out by Ohio boss

UFC 203 was a weird night, that included former UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum teeping opponent Travis Browne’s coach Edmond Tarverdyan.

“He started it,” explained Werdum

“I don’t want to kick him, I just keep the distance, you know. He’s a boxing coach, and I see in his eyes he wants to punch my face. And I just want to keep the distance. But he comes first. He says a lot of things, a lot of bad things.”

“He said shut up your mouth motherf***er.”

Kicking an opposing coach or a coach behaving aggressively towards a fighter could have serious consequences. However, Ohio is one of the best-run commissions in North America, under executive director Bernie Profato.

And sometimes a gentle but firm hand is what is needed, rather than a whip.

Being a former cop, you sometimes find you did better giving them a break, said Profato to Steven Marrocco for MMAjunkie.

I shook hands with them and said, ‘This is bulls*** guys, this is TV. I’ve got your names–- if I think something’s going wrong in the future, you will not be able to work the corner. If I hear of any actions against you, I won’t license you.

Browne has now lost two in a row, and four of his last six.

Werdum, who was coming off a title loss to Stipe Miocic, has now won seven of his last eight. Late Saturday night he approached Miocic, who won the main event fight with Alistair Overeem, and asked for a rematch.

However, in a post-fight interview with Megan Olivi, UFC president Dana White was not impressed with his performance, and by and large with UFC 203 generally.

“The fights were lackluster, to say the least,” said White. “The main event was awesome. The main event saved the night, in my opinion.”

Olivi asked White if Werdum’s performance warranted some thought about a title shot.

“I don’t know if that was a title shot performance,” said White. “I don’t know. We’ll see what happens.”