An absolutely jam-packed main card was capped off by the crowning a new heavyweight champion by way of shocking knockout when Stipe Miocic knocked out Fabricio Werdum in the first round at tonight’s (Sat., May 14, 2016) UFC 198 from the Arena da Baixada in Curitiba, Brazil. Werdum seemed to control most of the action early,
An absolutely jam-packed main card was capped off by the crowning a new heavyweight champion by way of shocking knockout when Stipe Miocic knocked out Fabricio Werdum in the first round at tonight’s (Sat., May 14, 2016) UFC 198 from the Arena da Baixada in Curitiba, Brazil.
Werdum seemed to control most of the action early, keeping the challenger at bay while stinging him with a varied mix of kicks and punching combinations. However, the Brazilian may have been a bit too relaxed in his home country, as he rushed in sloppy with his hands down and was put to sleep by a literally perfect counter right hand.
With the slight upset win, Miocic finally brings home a championship to Cleveland, and has breathed new life into an aging heavyweight division with his third straight win. Check out the full fight video highlights of his game-changing victory right here:
Fabricio Werdum vs. Stipe Miocic: Mike Drahota: This is an intriguing heavyweight title bout to be sure, and the first non-interim title affair not featuring Cain Velasquez to be contested in the weight class since Junior dos Santos beat Frank Mir in 2012. The champ Werdum has looked nothing but flawless in his return to
This is an intriguing heavyweight title bout to be sure, and the first non-interim title affair not featuring Cain Velasquez to be contested in the weight class since Junior dos Santos beat Frank Mir in 2012. The champ Werdum has looked nothing but flawless in his return to the UFC that same year, winning six straight bouts with a perfect mix of two knockouts, two submissions, and two decision wins. Miocic has looked similarly dominant recently, although over a smaller sample size, with his two consecutive TKOs over Mark Hunt an Andrei Arlovski. The proud Ohio native will go into hostile territory at the Arena de Baixada tonight, but I think his hand speed and boxing prowess couple with his NCAA wrestling skills will score the upset. Miocic gets it done by fourth round TKO.
Rory Kernaghan:
The heavyweight battle between Werdum and Miocic is an interesting pairing, featuring a greatly improved striker in ‘Vai Cavalo’ and a technical boxer in Stipe. For Werdum, it’s all going to be about where this fight takes place, and although he’s vastly advanced his stand-up, I don’t feel like it’s the best place to hang around against Miocic. Yes he survived the onslaught from the likes of Cain Velasquez and Mark Hunt, but heavyweight is a dangerous place to roll the dice. Will he get this one to the ground? If the champion does, the fight is pretty much over. For that reason, I can’t see Miocic being able to grind this one out. Werdum by submission round three.
Mike Henken:
In my opinion, Miocic represents a very tough challenge for defending champion Werdum. The Croatian has shown high-level boxing skills coupled with brutal knockout power in which he backs up with a strong wrestling background. That along with his speed and conditioning makes him a legitimate threat to anyone in the heavyweight division. However, I feel as if Werdum’s improved striking will keep him in it on the feet before he reverts to his world-class grappling skills to end the bout in front of his homeland. Werdum by fourth round submission.
Jacare Souza vs. Vitor Belfort:
Mike Drahota:
I think this pivotal middleweight co-main event may not be getting enough attention amidst all of the massive, buzz-worthy UFC 198 hype. While each of these aging Brazilian vets is still near the top of the game, they both have several question marks as well. Both will probably get a title shot with an impressive win; with Belfort having the pre-installed bad blood with Luke Rockhold if he wins at UFC 199. However, Souza looked incredibly sluggish in his last bout, a split decision loss to Yoel Romero, and Belfort has seemingly made his way into huge fights by knocking out past-prime legend Dan Henderson in recent years. Regardless, the story should be the same as always for “The Phenom”; if he can rush Jacare and blast him early, the fight will be his. But that’s a tough thing to do, and I believe Souza will be able to weather the storm to use his legendary ground game to dominate Belfort as a few other truly elite fighters have done before. Jacare Souza by first round submission.
Rory Kernaghan:
Vitor Belfort represents one of the very few old-school fighters who remain active in 2016, and he’ll be facing a very tall order in Jacare Souza. His junior and by far in much better shape, Souza is quite the scary prospect for any fighter, let alone one who’s by far past his prime by now. The one-punch threat is about all I can imagine Belfort having offer Jacare, and much like his UFC 187 fight with Chris Weidman, I don’t think that will be enough. I see Souza handling this one with ease, choking Belfort in the first round.
Mike Henken:
Personally, I see this playing out similar to how Belfort’s title fight with Chris Weidman did. “The Phenom,” an explosive finisher, came out guns blazing, and landed a few hard shots on Weidman before he was taken down and finished. I see Belfort once again coming out looking for the finish and he may even tag Souza, but I believe Jacare will drag the fight to the mat where his grappling skills will be the superior. Jacare by first round submission.
UFC 198 is slated to go down this evening (Sat., May 14, 2016) live on pay-per-view (PPV) in front of a crowd of 45,000 fight-crazed fans from the Arena de Baixada in Curitiba, Brazil. The UFC has stacked the deck for this event, and the card has rightfully received a ton of hype and promotion.
UFC 198 is slated to go down this evening (Sat., May 14, 2016) live on pay-per-view (PPV) in front of a crowd of 45,000 fight-crazed fans from the Arena de Baixada in Curitiba, Brazil.
The UFC has stacked the deck for this event, and the card has rightfully received a ton of hype and promotion.
Now just hours away from the action, let’s take a look at why UFC 198 ranks amongst the biggest events ever.
We are now just one day away from the stacked UFC 198 pay-per-view (PPV) card slated for this Saturday night (May 14, 2016) from Curitiba, Brazil. The card features a plethora of blockbuster bouts, but the main attraction will be a heavyweight title tilt between defending champion Fabricio “Vai Cavalo” Werdum and rising contender Stipe
We are now just one day away from the stacked UFC 198 pay-per-view (PPV) card slated for this Saturday night (May 14, 2016) from Curitiba, Brazil.
The card features a plethora of blockbuster bouts, but the main attraction will be a heavyweight title tilt between defending champion Fabricio “Vai Cavalo” Werdum and rising contender Stipe Miocic.
Miocic has looked strong as of late, picking up back-to-back TKO victories over Mark Hunt and Andrei Arlovski. With a well-rounded skillset, he may be able to give Werdum some serious issues if he plays his cards right.
With that being said, however, “Vai Cavalo” has looked better than ever as of late, and has gradually cemented himself as one of the greatest heavyweights of all-time.
Let’s take a look at four reasons why Werdum will destroy Miocic this weekend.
With only two short days remaining until this weekend’s (Sat., May 14, 2016) UFC 198 from the Arena da Baixada in Curitiba, Brazil, the anticipation for the biggest-ever UFC event in Brazil is building to a fever pitch. A big part of that excitement is being generated by the long-awaited UFC debut of Invicta FC featherweight
With only two short days remaining until this weekend’s (Sat., May 14, 2016) UFC 198 from the Arena da Baixada in Curitiba, Brazil, the anticipation for the biggest-ever UFC event in Brazil is building to a fever pitch.
A big part of that excitement is being generated by the long-awaited UFC debut of Invicta FC featherweight champion Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino, who will take on Leslie Smith in a 140-pound catchweight bout on the main card. Cyborg was famously embroiled in a long-back-and-forth feud with former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey, where the roadblock to them actually fighting off was always Cyborg’s unwillingness to cut down to 135 pounds.
But now she’ll face Smith at only five pounds heavier, and from the look of things at the UFC 198 Media Day Faceoffs, she doesn’t hold the same massive size advantage that she did over her previous opponents when she walked into the cage at 165 pounds or more.
Of course, she could need a day to rehydrate and put on a large amount of water weight.
Check it out here, along with the faceoffs for all the anticipated main card fighters, and decide for yourself:
UFC heavyweight champ Fabricio Werdum has a tough test in front of him when he battles Stipe Miocic in the main event of this weekend’s (Sat., May 14, 2016) UFC 198 from the Arena da Baixada in Curitiba, Brazil, but he could be already looking ahead to his next opponent. That potential opponent is Alistair Overeem,
UFC heavyweight champ Fabricio Werdum has a tough test in front of him when he battles Stipe Miocic in the main event of this weekend’s (Sat., May 14, 2016) UFC 198 from the Arena da Baixada in Curitiba, Brazil, but he could be already looking ahead to his next opponent.
That potential opponent is Alistair Overeem, the surging former K-1 and Strikeforce champion whom Werdum submitted back at Pride FC – Critical Countdown Absolute in 2006 before losing a lackluster decision to “The Reem” in 2011’s Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix. That was Werdum’s last loss, as he’s won six straight to obtain the UFC heavyweight title, while Overeem has racked up four straight wins of his own after his impressive jumping front kick knockout over Andrei Arlovski at last weekend’s UFC Rotterdam.
Speaking to reporters via MMA Fighting in his native Brazil, Werdum revealed his respect for Overeem’s win, and noted that he may be in for a trilogy bout with the power-hitting Dutchman:
“I thought it was a good win. Overeem is really smart when he’s fighting, had the patience to wait for the right moment. His technical kick surprised everyone, like Lyoto Machida (versus Randy Couture). I liked it.
“If he’s the next (in line) or not, it’s not up to me to decide. Based on his performance, he might be, but I want to focus on my next fight on May 14.”
That would seem to be a good idea for Werdum, due to the fact that while Miocic may not have the fame, overall attention, or win streak of “Vai Cavalo” or Overeem, he’s still no doubt a wholly dangerous fighter with the power to end any fight instantly.
If he does get past Miocic, however, Werdum wants to avenge the sluggish showing he put forth in his last fight with “The Reem,” saying he was massively overtrained for the fight:
“I don’t like to give excuses but I was overtrained,” Werdum said. “The fight was canceled twice and I didn’t stop training. I overtrained. I never felt like that before. I got too tired after throwing one punch. The fight was horrible for both of us, nobody liked it. I submitted him at Pride, and it was a tough fight. It’s 1-1 now, and let’s see what the UFC decides.”
From that point of view, a Werdum-Overeem grudge match seems like an obvious choice for the UFC should “Vai Cavalo” get past the Cleveland-born Miocic this weekend.
But as we’ve seen in the UFC, the obvious choice is not always the path most taken.
