Stipe Miocic Brings Cleveland a Title at UFC 198

UFC 198: Werdum vs. Miocic took place last night from the Arena da Baixada in Curitiba, Brazil. The PPV was headlined by a UFC Heavyweight Championship bout between current champion Fabrício Werdum and top contender Stipe Miocic in which the challenger Stipe Miocic shocked the MMA world with a stunning first round knockout of the champ.
Here are some early thoughts of the big card from Brazil.

How appropriate that the Cleveland native brought home a title to Cleveland the same night ESPN ran a special mocking the misery of Cleveland sports lore.

Fabricio Werdum © vs Stipe Miocic = Werdum was dominating as expected as he out punched and out worked Stipe early. However, it only took one massive shot from Stipe who was actually back peddling at the time to put the champ out and bring Cleveland home a title! Stipe still has a lot of room to grow and was lucky not to get knocked out himself last night as he took several hard shots, but for now, it’s time to celebrate in Cleveland!

You can read more about the life story of Stipe Miocic and his journey to greatness by clicking the below link.

It was never close as Souza dominated from the opening seconds and put Belfort away with ease, to enter the main event picture!

Christiane Justino “Cyborg” made her UFC main roster debut tonight by destroying the scrappy Leslie Smith in under two minutes with ease. At 16 – 1, Cyborg lays claim to one of the best fighters in Womens MMA history, however her list of conquests is hardly a “who’s who”, she needs to start winning big name fights for her legacy to truly be stamped. Leslie Smith isn’t exactly a household name, but with the win it puts Cyborg on the right path.

Mauricio “Shogun” Rua won a tight decision against Corey Anderson. Rua was once considered the best Light Heavyweight in the world, but has had a UFC career that has seen him go a mediocre 7-7 to tarnish an overall excellent career.

He looked slow, but Anderson didn’t look much better. This fight hurt both fighters more than it helped them.

Matt Brown continues to be puzzling, he wins some, loses some, but can’t seem to get over the hump. His third round submission loss to Maia continues to show that.

Thiago Santos over Nate Maquardt by first round stoppage further proves Marquardt will be cut soon and his best days are far behind him. Santos looked great, we have not hear the last from him.

You can follow Vince The Author on Twitter at VinceTheAuthor