Stipe Miocic knocks out Fabricio Werdum to claim UFC heavyweight title
By Michael Kelleher
Last Updated: 15/05/16 11:50am
Stipe Miocic stunned 45,000 Brazilian fans in Curitiba as he knocked out Fabricio Werdum in the first round to claim the heavyweight title at UFC 198.
Miocic (15-2), an Ohio firefighter, used his superior boxing skills to devastating effect, tagging Werdum as he charged forward, before finishing him with strikes on the ground just 2 minutes and 47 seconds into their heavyweight championship fight.
Werdum, who won the title by upsetting Cain Velasquez in Mexico last June, started patiently as he targeted Miocic with leg kicks and sought an opening for a takedown so he could utilise his superior his jiu-jitsu.
But his patience quickly evaporated in front of his vocal home support and he attempted to charge Miocic while winging punches.
Miocic, a former amateur boxer, expertly circled away from the attack and unleashed a short, crisp right hand which crumpled Werdum to the canvas. Referee Dan Miragliotta stepped in almost immediately to call an end to the bout.
Celebrating in front of a disappointed sell-out crowd at Arena da Baixada, Miocic shouted: "Cleveland, this is for you!
"Honestly, Fabricio is tough. He had me guessing. We trained hard, man. I have a good right hand. Thank God. He caught me off-guard a little. I wasn't opening up like I wanted to. He's got good jiu-jitsu. I was worried about the takedown."
Werdum, who hadn't lost since re-joining the UFC in 2012, promised to come back stronger after just the second knockout loss of his nearly 14-year career.
Werdum said: "I have to admit that he was better than me. But I will do all I can to come back and be champion again."
In the co-main event, Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza made the biggest statement of his UFC career by finishing compatriot Vitor Belfort (25-12) via first-round TKO.
The stoppage came at the 4:38 mark, after Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Souza took Belfort down, moved into mount and hammered him with elbows and punches.
It was a dominant display by Souza, who out-landed Belfort in total strikes by 51 to 4, according to Fightmetric.
The win puts Souza in pole position for a middleweight title shot against the winner of champion Luke Rockhold and Chris Weidman, who meet for the belt at UFC 199.
"I deserve the title shot," Souza said through an interpreter. "I think I earned it and I deserved this fight."
Earlier in the night, the local fans got to celebrate a Brazilian victory over an American opponent in the key women's fight on the undercard as Cris "Cyborg" Justino needed just one minute and 20 seconds to knock out Leslie Smith.
Curitiba native Justino now has a 16-fight winning streak since her debut in 2005, stopping ten consecutive opponents and winning titles in the Strikeforce and Invicta promotions.
Fans have long clamoured for Justino to face former UFC bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey, but Justino had difficulty making the weight. Rousey's loss to Holly Holm derailed the discussion.
Justino served a one-year suspension in 2012 for testing positive for steroids.
UFC champion Miesha Tate was watching Justino's "impressive performance", and said on Twitter: ''What a powerful woman! Congrats on making 139lbs! Four more and we can have a title fight!"
In other main card fights, welterweight Bryan Barbarena of the United States beat home crowd favourite Warlley Alves in a unanimous decision.
In a split decision, Brazilian light heavyweight Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua outpointed American Corey Anderson.
Welterweight Demian Maia extended his win streak to five in a dominant submission win over fellow contender Matt Brown. Maia, 38, tapped Brown via rear-naked choke at 4:31 of the third round.
