Written by Nate Wilcox at SB Nation.com
Stipe Miocic stopped Fabricio Werdum cold to take the UFC heavyweight title Saturday night at UFC 198. Werdum charged wildly into a Miocic counter that sent the champ sprawling to the mat.
Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza sent a message to the UFC middleweight division with a one-round demolition of the legendary Vitor Belfort. Souza took Belfort down early, beat him up with elbows, got mount and proceeded to beat him up until the ref had to intervene.
Invicta’s 145-pound champ Cris Cyborg came to the UFC for the first time in a catchweight 140-pound bout against Leslie Smith. Cyborg made quick work of the over-matched Smith, winning by TKO in less than two minutes.
Legendary former UFC and Pride champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua edged past Corey Anderson via split decision. Rua nearly KO’d Anderson at the end of the first round but couldn’t quite finish his foe. Anderson came back to score multiple take downs but it wasn’t enough to sway the judges.
American Bryan Barberena was the first non-Brazilian fighter to win at UFC 198 with a decision over Warlley Alves to kick off the pay-per-view card.
Demian Maia spent the best part of three rounds on Matt Brown’s back before finally sinking in the rear naked choke with just 30 seconds left of their Fox Sports 1 preliminaries headliner.
Thiago Santos only needed part of one round to finish veteran Nate Marquardt with a battery of punches. The win was the fourth straight UFC victory for the Brazilian middleweight.
Francisco Trinaldo got the better of Yancy Medeiros in a wild three-round slobber knocker that somehow went to a decision. Both men endured brutal blows with Trinaldo stunning Medeiros badly in the first and final rounds and Medeiros hurting Trinaldo in the second.
Bantamweight John Lineker dominated Rob Font en route to a unanimous decision win. Lineker battered Font with combination punching to the body and head and got two knockdowns in the opening round but couldn’t get the finish.
Legendary veteran Antonio Rogerio Nogueira got his first win since 2013 with a first-round TKO over Patrick Cummins. Little Nog’s punching combinations were sharp and Cummins could not implement his wrestling game.
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