By Michael Hatamoto

Fabricio Werdum met an overmatched Mike Russow in the octagon last night, destroying the American fighter and Chicago police officer in just a few minutes.

Here is what Werdum had to say post-fight to Fox Sports:

“For sure, I’m close [to a title shot] now. If the UFC asks, then I’m ready for sure…but maybe [I will have] one more fight, maybe on the [Cain] Velasquez-dos Santos card. After that, if I win, maybe I will fight [the champion] in Brazil. I don’t know. I’m just here to fight.”

The complete destruction of Mike Russow was impressive, but doesn’t earn Werdum a rematch with Dos Santos quite yet. The two Brazilian heavyweights first met at UFC 90 in 2008, when Dos Santos knocked out Werdum just 81 seconds into the first round.

Since losing to Alistair Overeem during the 2011 Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix quarterfinal fight, Werdum bounced back with a decision against Roy Nelson at UFC 143 and last night’s victory against Russow. In both fights, his striking looked significantly better – but is still nowhere near the high-level boxing of Dos Santos.

However, we must not forget that Werdum is a BJJ practitioner first and foremost, and will look to try and take Dos Santos down.

The top of the UFC heavyweight division suddenly looks a bit more interesting, and the UFC now has some new matchup potential.