What a week it's been for former UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum.

Having had his fight with Cain Velasquez cancelled at the last-minute, the Brazilian champion was then briefly linked to a replacement fight against compatriot Junior dos Santos, but the fight never came together.

With Werdum now off the UFC 207 fight card altogether, UFC President Dana White revealed the circumstances surrounding his discussions with Werdum about taking the dos Santos fight.

White stated that Werdum had asked for $800,000 to take the fight and that he had also declined a fight with Alistair Overeem.

When asked about White's comments today, Werdum confirmed he'd asked for the money but that an offer to fight Overeem had never come in.

"It's true," Werdum said regarding the $800,000 show pay. "I would've had a change of opponent, and I would've had to change the strategy. I asked [for more], yes, but the Alistair Overeem offer didn't come to me. Perhaps he talked with [Werdum's manager] Ali [Abdelaziz] and he didn't tell me about.

"The fight with Cigano came with no guarantee that I would get a title shot afterward if I won, so me and my team realized that wouldn't be a deal that I would sign for. If you want to smile, you have to make me smile too."

Asked what he thought of White's comments today, the Brazilian implied he wasn't that impressed, and that he wouldn't be pressured into taking a fight he didn't want.

"He can say whatever he wants to say. He is the UFC president," Werdum said. "Everybody is going to believe him, of course. I didn't have to agree with to this fight, so because of that I asked for more money.

"I signed to fight [Cain] Velasquez. Why should it be that they can change the fight a week before and I have to accept everything? It is not like that. I don't need this."

For FloCombat via A.G Fight