UFC 198 Main Event Preview

By JM “Shade” Daguio

The UFC will make its return to Brazil this weekend with a stacked card of Brazil’s stellar fighters. The main event will be headlined by Brazilian Fabricio Werdum as he defends his heavyweight championship against Cleveland’s own Stipe Miocic.
Fabricio Werdum is a wily veteran that had seen it all, he fought in almost all major organizations of MMA, had fought the best and defeated most of them, for him this fight is another step to legend status as he tries to clean up the UFC’s heavyweight division.

Werdum also comes from the most vicious fight team in all of MMA: Chute Box Academy in Curitiba, it has produced legends such as Anderson Silva, Wanderlei Silva, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and Christiane “Cyborg” Justino. Although Werdum has long since left the academy (so did the others) to pursue a more prosperous life in the US, his fighting acumen is still patterned to the chute box style of fighting; going forward, vicious, exciting and grand.

Werdum’s path towards the UFC title was long and arduous, after the Zuffa (UFC’s parent company) Pride FC, it was only natural for Werdum to finally transition to UFC after an impressive resume in Pride, however UFC was quite different, the skill and talent level are way way better and the fighter hunger is also an all time high. Werdum went 2-2 with his first stint in UFC with a devastating loss to then future heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos had Werdum packing to another organization. It was hard for Werdum because he had the feeling that it was his turn to make a mark and yet he failed to do so after the Dos Santos loss.

His stint with Strikeforce (rival promotion) was better, he was able to rack up quality wins including an emphatic submission win vs. Fedor Emelianenko, arguably the greatest heavyweight of all time, Werdum’s stock rose like crazy but still he knew where he needed to step up the competition. After a decision loss to fellow current UFC heavyweight Alistair Overeem, Werdum went back to the UFC (he was followed by Werdum soon after) to start his campaign and this time he didn’t let the moment slip.

While Overeem was having problems in the UFC, Werdum was on a 6-fight winning streak and is yet to lose a fight. His notable wins include submission of the great Antonio Rodrigio Nogueira, KO of kickboxing juggernaut Mark Hunt and another submission win over former heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez.

Werdum is finally in the conversation as the greatest heavyweight and maybe the best heavyweight grappler ever in MMA having submitted 3 of the greatest heavyweights of all time.

In UFC 198, Werdum will face a younger and hungrier lion, the UFC’s heavyweight division is infested with fighters of advanced age and Werdum is no exception, at 38 he feels this is a resurgence, he feels his experience against the best equipped him well against a more athletic fighter like Miocic.

Werdum must not look past Miocic because of the latters equalizer; Miocic’s KO power. Werdum has great chin though but he cannot rely on that for the rest of the 5-round fight, he must utilize the same tools he used against Cain, smother his opponent and take the fight to the ground if necessary where his Jiu-Jitsu wizardry will take place, his stand up shouldn’t be taken for granted either, he must use his muay thai background to keep Miocic at bay at the same time to wear Miocic down, after which he can decide to smother Miocic to the ground and deliver the coup de grace.

Miocic will have his work cut out for him, his positions in the fight will be fairly limited similar to most of Werdum’s past opponents. Miocic will have to settle to a striking match and he must succeed in that, he will have to defend all attempts of a takedown from Werdum’s part, failure of which will lead to Miocic’s downfall via submission. Miocic will have a significant advantage in striking though since his boxing is impeccable, he knows how to create angles and spacing, his punches are accurate enough and economical plus his power will definitely play a huge part of his victory.

Simply put, Werdum is the more well-rounded fighter, he can finish the fight either standing or on the ground however Miocic’s athleticism would make things difficult for Werdum plus Miocic’s KO power will be a factor in a closely contested match.

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