UFC heavyweight Fabricio Werdum saves teen from drowning
Former UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum is not only one of the greatest heavyweights of all time, but he’s also a great guy too. On Sunday while enjoying some time at the beach with his family in Torrance, California, Werdum saw two teens in trouble out in the water and sprang into action.
Werdum saw the two teens shouting for help far out into the water and ran into the ocean to assist a lifeguard and some other bystanders in assisting the drowning teens. While the lifeguard in a lifeboat was able to assist one of the teens, a young girl, it was up to Werdum to help the remaining drowning boy using only a floating buoy.
Werdum explained to Brazilian website AG sports what happened (translated and transcribed by mixedmartialarts.com):
“I was going to help and my wife Karine was in doubt because it was dangerous, but when I looked, I saw two little heads in the sea shouting ‘help’. They were very far, about 75 yards out. When the lifeguard picked up the board alone, I took off my coat and ran off. I took the orange buoy, I slung it across my chest, and I arrived to the boy, a little ahead still. I told the lifeguard to get the girl, who was screaming a lot, and I got the boy, who was limp. I was able to catch him and we went towards the shore. Then, on the edge, a gentleman helped me. The waves were large, the guy sank some three times. Wow, my heart was beating a million, it’s an extreme situation, the heart goes to a million. It’s worse than fighting. It does not even come close.”
Now, one of the dangers of assisting someone who’s drowning is that, in a panic, the person who’s drowning often pulls the person trying to save them under with them. But Werdum was able to keep his cool and assist the drowning boy and quite literally saved his life.
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Werdum is currently under USADA suspension until 2020 after testing positive for Trenbolone and its metabolites and recently requested a release from his UFC contract due to his current predicament.
