The UFC’s electric stadium show of UFC 198 live from the Arena de Baixada last night (May 14, 2016) in Curitiba, Brazil was a huge success, as Brazilian stars took the Octagon to embark on some of the biggest fights of their lives. The Brazilian crowd was great, cheering on their native heroes, who, for
The UFC’s electric stadium show of UFC 198 live from the Arena de Baixada last night (May 14, 2016) in Curitiba, Brazil was a huge success, as Brazilian stars took the Octagon to embark on some of the biggest fights of their lives.
The Brazilian crowd was great, cheering on their native heroes, who, for the most part, emerged victorious. Not all Brazilian natives took home a win, however, as our ‘Brazil vs Brazil’ co-main event saw one man exiting the contest in a bloody mess in the first round.
The main event featured a heavyweight title bout between Brazilian Fabricio Werdum and surging Croatian contender Stipe Miocic, that ended with a bang and someone taking a short nap on the canvas.
With that said, lets take a look at our five biggest takeaways from UFC 198.
At UFC 198 in Curitiba, Brazil, Brazilian jiu-jitsu expert Demian Maia (23-6) spent nearly 15 minutes on Matt Brown’s (20-14) back before finishing him with a rear-naked choke. Maia is now on a five-fight win streak and tied at third for most submissio…
At UFC 198 in Curitiba, Brazil, Brazilian jiu-jitsu expert Demian Maia (23-6) spent nearly 15 minutes on Matt Brown’s (20-14) back before finishing him with a rear-naked choke. Maia is now on a five-fight win streak and tied at third for most submissions in UFC history with eight.
All three rounds were nearly identical, with Maia getting a takedown early in the round, taking Brown’s back and locking up the body triangle. From there, he looked for a submission and finally found it in the last minute of the third round. Maia sunk one arm in and, despite Brown successfully controlling Maia’s other arm, “The Immortal” still tapped.
Grappling beast Demian Maia does it again! A beautiful rear naked choke gets him a win over Matt Brown. #UFC198https://t.co/MxEyI0fMj1
Despite Brown’s considerable power, Maia shut down all of Brown’s attempts to do virtually anything. The only semblance of a reversal came when Maia attempted to set up an armbar, allowing Brown to turn and end up in closed guard—which didn’t accomplish much.
Great choke finish from Maia. He was patient and relentless and capitalized on every single mistake Brown made to the fullest. #UFC198
Brown had been out for almost a year, last submitting Tim Means in July 2015. With this loss, he is now 2-3 in his last five, having dropped decisions to current welterweight champion Robbie Lawler and former champion Johny Hendricks. Prior to those losses, Brown’s seven-fight win streak—six of which came via KO/TKO—generated enough hype to earn him the title-eliminator bout with Lawler. Brown will now likely be relegated to division gatekeeper for several fights.
He seemed to take the loss in stride, saying in his post-fight interview, “I 100-percent respect Demian and his style, that’s why I wanted to fight him. A loss means I found a new way to do things wrong. I will be back to training next week.”
Maia last fought fellow grappler Gunnar Nelson in a highly anticipated match at UFC 194, easily controlling Nelson the entire fight to take the unanimous decision. He also has wins over Neil Magny, Chael Sonnen and Rick Story—all submissions. His BJJ is among the best in the UFC, and he employed it to great effect at UFC 198, emerging from the fight with very little wear.
With such dominance and at No. 6 in the welterweight rankings, Maia should be next in line for a title eliminator, if not the next title shot after Lawler vs. Tyron Woodley at UFC 201. In his post-fight interview, Maia said, “He was trained to protect his neck, he did a good job. I will improve that. Now, I hope my next fight is for the belt.”
All quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.
It wasn’t a good night for Matt Brown at UFC 198 Saturday.
Even before being submitted by Demian Maia in the third round, Brown had to fend off attacks by three fans as he walked to the Octagon.
If you are asking why Brown was nearly assaulted, i…
It wasn’t a good night for Matt Brown at UFC 198 Saturday.
Even before being submitted by Demian Maia in the third round, Brown had to fend off attacks by three fans as he walked to the Octagon.
If you are asking why Brown was nearly assaulted, it likely stems from his antics during weigh-ins on Friday when he turned his back on the crowd and flipped them off.
When it comes to the subject of Phil “CM Punk” Brooks competing in the UFC, current welterweight contender Matt Brown has a very definite opinion.
Ahead of his fight against Demian Maia at tonight’s UFC 198 pay-per-view event in Curitiba, Brazil, Br…
When it comes to the subject of Phil “CM Punk” Brooks competing in the UFC, current welterweight contender Matt Brown has a very definite opinion.
Ahead of his fight against Demian Maia at tonight’s UFC 198 pay-per-view event in Curitiba, Brazil, Brown spoke with The Fan Garage and the topic of Punk in the UFC came up.
“I didn’t criticize him for having his surgery if it was something necessary to do,” Brown said of Punk’s decision to postpone his UFC debut to get surgery. “I criticized him for the fact that he’s not a fighter. He doesn’t deserve to fight in the UFC with no fights.”
Brown continued, “I don’t believe he deserves to fight in the UFC based off the name he made in pro-wrestling and I think he’ll figure it out when he fights in the UFC, he’ll figure it out the hard way. Or he can listen to me and that’ll be the easy way to learn.”
Punk was scheduled to make his Octagon debut against Micky Gall, who earned the fight to become Punk’s debut opponent in the UFC when he defeated Mike Jackson on a UFC preliminary fight after calling out Punk on Dana White’s “Lookin’ For A Fight” reality show. Instead, he was forced to pull out of the bout, which was expected to go down at UFC 199 in June, because he needed to undergo an operation to repair an injury.
As things stand right now, there is no definitive timetable for Punk’s UFC debut. It is, however, still believed that he will be fighting Gall in his first Octagon appearance.
What started out as a mere Fight Night card is now a massive PPV event that has the potential to be one of the biggest of the year. UFC 198 takes place live from Curitiba, Brazil, tonight (Sat., May 14, 2016) at the Arena de Baixada in the first soccer stadium event in UFC history.
What started out as a mere Fight Night card is now a massive PPV event that has the potential to be one of the biggest of the year. UFC 198 takes place live from Curitiba, Brazil, tonight (Sat., May 14, 2016) at the Arena de Baixada in the first soccer stadium event in UFC history.
The card features huge Brazilian names and legends such as Vitor Belfort, Shogun Rua, Demian Maia, and the UFC debut of Cristiane ‘Cyborg’ Justino. The colossal Brazil event is headlined by a championship bout between current heavyweight king Fabricio Werdum, and top contender Stipe Miocic.
With all that being said, let’s take a look at the five crucial reasons you should watch UFC 198…
The massive and electrified 15,000-person crowd at today’s UFC 198 weigh-ins for the blockbuster Brazilian pay-per-view set to go down tomorrow night (Sat., May 14, 2016) UFC 198 from the Arena da Baixada in Curitiba way already riled up enough, but that hardly stopped outspoken welterweight Matt Brown from getting them pumped up even more. No. 8-ranked
The massive and electrified 15,000-person crowd at today’s UFC 198 weigh-ins for the blockbuster Brazilian pay-per-view set to go down tomorrow night (Sat., May 14, 2016) UFC 198 from the Arena da Baixada in Curitiba way already riled up enough, but that hardly stopped outspoken welterweight Matt Brown from getting them pumped up even more.
No. 8-ranked “Immortal,” who will face No. 6-ranked Brazilian countryman Demian Maia in the featured preliminary bout of tomorrow’s card in one of the biggest fights of his career, was met with the traditional Brazilian chant by the raucous throng of fans.
Brown wasn’t having any of it, however, and he fired back at the fervent haters with not only one, but two different one-fingered salutes in response. The TV cameras for FOX Sports quickly cut away, but MMA Fighting was able to catch the hilarious scene. Check it out right here:
At UFC 198 in Curitiba, Brazil, Brazilian jiu-jitsu expert 