Even with Anderson Silva’s removal, UFC 198 is shaping up to be a massive show, and everything will build to Fabricio Werdum’s UFC Heavyweight Championship defense against Stipe Miocic.
Yahoo Sports’ Kevin Iole reported Tuesday that Silva may need gall bladder surgery and is thus unavailable for Saturday’s event in Curitiba, Brazil. The pay-per-view still isn’t lacking for star power, especially with Cristiane Justino making her UFC debut and Werdum and Miocic headlining the card.
Here’s a look at Saturday’s main event.
Fight Information
When: Saturday, May 14, at 10 p.m. ET
Where: Curitiba, Brazil
Odds (via Odds Shark): Werdum (5-8); Miocic (13-10)
Pre-Fight Hype
“I am aware of how tough [Miocic] is and how hungry he is to get my belt,” Werdum said, per MMAjunkie’s Christian Stein. “I’m training to avoid that. I want to play my game and do all the right things.”
Miocic is often a man of few words, and he didn’t need a long monologue to make his point ahead of Saturday’s fight.
“Definitely, he’s got a black belt, and he uses it well,” he said of Werdum, per FoxSports.com’s Elias Cepeda. “But it gets harder to do jiu-jitsu when you get punched in the face.”
Although Curitiba isn’t exactly a close drive from his hometown of Porto Alegre, Brazil, Werdum will enjoy something of an advantage with a partisan Brazilian crowd behind him. The 38-year-old has fought twice in his home country under the UFC banner and won on both occasions. Neither bout went past the second round.
“It was cool to see 440 happy faces,” Werdum said at a seminar in Curitiba,” per Sherdog’s Marcelo Alonso. “Imagine next Saturday. It will be 100 times more. As I said, Miocic will fight [45,000] Werdums.”
Miocic said fighting in enemy territory doesn’t faze him, however, per the Plain Dealer‘s Dennis Manoloff: “I’ve been in this type of situation. It seems like I’m always fighting in somebody’s backyard. I fought a Brazilian guy in Brazil, a New Zealand guy in Australia, a European guy in the U.K. I’ll fight anybody, anytime, anywhere. I embrace the challenge. The crowd’s not in the cage; Werdum is.”
Werdum’s walk to the Octagon alone might be worth the cost of buying the pay-per-view.
“My entrance is going to be amazing. I’m going to do something special,” he said, per UFC.com’s E. Spencer Kyte. “It’s going to be very emotional and very beautiful. It will be a huge surprise.”
Prediction
Miocic is the superior striker, and he could easily end this fight in the first or second round. Ten of his 14 wins have come by way of knockout. The 33-year-old won’t be afraid to take the fight right to Werdum from the opening bell.
Bleacher Report’s Patrick Wyman explained why Miocic can be such a tough opponent:
The Ohio native is mostly a boxer on the feet. He pumps a sharp jab at range as he circles and angles with technically sound footwork, and often follows with a long right hand. His left hook is most dangerous as a counter and he mixes in the occasional uppercut, but for the most part he’s content to stick the one-two, pivot out and repeat the process. The occasional low kick adds some variety.
What makes this hard to deal with is the rate at which Miocic does it. His pace is second only to Cain Velasquez in the heavyweight division, but unlike Velasquez, he prefers to operate in open space rather than pressuring his opponent back toward the fence. This plays to Miocic‘s 6’4″ frame, long reach and preference for rangy punches.
There’s no question Werdum is the stronger overall fighter, though, and he’ll be in firm control of the fight if he can keep Miocic on the ground for long stretches. Not only would that negate Miocic‘s striking advantage, it could also provide Werdum with an opening to lock in a submission and end the fight.
If push comes to shove, Werdum also showed against Mark Hunt that he can withstand some punishing blows:
As long as he can survive Miocic‘s early onslaught, Werdum will be in great position to retain his heavyweight title. And the longer the fight goes on, the more desperate the challenger could become, leaving himself vulnerable to a submission.
This could be the moment Miocic cements himself as the top dog in the heavyweight division, but look for Werdum to come out victorious after the fight goes the distance.
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