UFC 198 Preview & Predictions – Another heartbreak for Cleveland fans?

UFC 198: Werdum vs. Miocic will take place tonight from the Arena da Baixada in Curitiba, Brazil. The PPV is headlined by a UFC Heavyweight Championship bout between current champion Fabrício Werdum and top contender Stipe Miocic.

While UFC 200 continues to gain the most hype, when you take a step back and look, this card is every bit as loaded with several huge names of past, present and future in big matches.

– Fabricio Werdum © vs Stipe Miocic = I see the hometown boy Stipe being at a huge disadvantage but also having a punchers chance. Miocic is a great striker and Werdum has taken plenty of hits in his day. Does he have one left in him? This is without a doubt the biggest challenge of Stipe’s career but Werdum has fought and beat the biggest names in the sport, and tonight will be no different. Look for Werdum to submit Miocic early into round 3. Werdum is on a six fight winning streak since his return to the UFC in 2012, look for that to extend to seven tonight.

At middleweight it will be Ronaldo Souza
vs. Vitor Belfort

Can you really bet against Belfort in his home country where he is now 5-0 lifetime with 5 knockouts? Hard to bet against those odds. Belfort is still lighting fast and they don’t test for HGH in Brazil. I think that tells you all you need to know.

His opponent Ronaldo Souza is no joke himself, as he remains one of the most dangerous fighters in the Middleweight division. He even holds a Strikeforce victory over current UFC Welterweight champion Robbie Lawler. A win tonight would put him back in the title hunt after a recent loss to Yoel Romero.

Christiane Justino “Cyborg” makes her UFC main roster debut tonight against the scrappy Leslie Smith. At 15 – 1, Cyborg lays claim to one of the best fights 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 stamp. Leslie Smith isn’t exactly a household name, but a win if the UFC will get Cyborg on the right path.

In what may be his final match before announcing retirement, the ageless legend Mauricio “Shogun” Rua takes on 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 6-7 to tarnish an overall excellent career. He is 17-3 outside of the UFC.
To his favor, he has beaten some of the biggest names in the sport soundly including Quinton Rampage Jackson, Antonio Nogueira, Alistair Overeem, Kevin Randleman, Marc Coleman, Chuck Lidell, Lyoto Machida, Forrest Griffin and Brandon Vera. Once again, like Belfort, it is hard to bet against that, but Corey Anderson may just be the right person at the right time.

Corey Anderson won The Ultimate Fighter 19 and is 5-1 in his young UFC career. This is a gigantic step up in competition for him, but a win puts him on the MMA map for good.

As mentioned earlier, the undercard is also loaded with matches such as Matt Brown vs Demian Mai and also Thiago Santos vs Nate Marquardt.

Quick Predicts

Matt Brown over Demian Maia by Second Round Knockout

Thiago Santos over Nate Maquardt by unanimous decision.

Shogun hangs on for one more fight with a knockout win over Corey Anderson

Cyborg debuts in style with a third round TKO

Vitor Belfort wins by a rare decision over Ronaldo Souza

Fabricio Wedum retains title over Stipe Miocic with third round submission.

In other news and notes:
It will have a special foreign flavor to it as the event is the first that the promotion has hosted in Curitiba. It is the fourth stadium venue to host a UFC event after UFC 129 at the Rogers Centre in Canada, UFC on Fox: Gustafsson vs. Johnson at the Tele2 Arena in Sweden and UFC 193 at the Etihad Stadium in Australia.

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