Fabricio Werdum has maintained that he plans to wait for a title shot against UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez. 
However, Velasquez had shoulder surgery earlier this month and will likely be out for the next year.
Dave Meltzer of MMAFighting.com recently reported that UFC President Dana White texted him that Velasquez would not be able to train for a six months.
With Velasquez on the sideline, the UFC has plans for Werdum. During the UFC 168 Pre-Fight Press Conference, UFC President Dana White was asked if the winner of the fight between Josh Barnett and Travis Browne would face Werdum next.
“Yeah, that is what we are planning,” White said during the pre-fight press conference at the MGM Grand Hotel.
Barnett and Browne will meet on the pay-per-view portion of the UFC 168 card coming from the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Both fighters have won back to back fights and they are both coming off first round knockout victories in their last fight.
Barnett defeated former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir at UFC 164 and he has won seven of his last eight fights. Browne is coming off the biggest victory of his career as he defeated former Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem in August. He has won three of his last four fights and has won a fight night bonus in all of those victories.
Since coming back to the UFC last year, Werdum has not been the most active UFC heavyweight. He has only competed three times since returning to the UFC in February of last year and only fought once in 2013. His only fight in 2013 came in June and he defeated Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira by submission in the second round.
White did not mention a potential timetable for a Barnett/Browne winner to face Werdum, but that fight could potentially take place sometime in the first six months of 2014.