UFC 198 results: Miocic knocks out Werdum in first round for heavyweight title

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.

UFC 198 takes place Saturday night inside Arena da Baixada in Curitiba, Brazil, featuring Heavyweight champion -- and local mixed martial arts hometown hero -- Fabricio Werdum, who will attempt to defend his unified world title for the first time ever at the expense of Stipe Miocic in the pay-per-view main event. Werdum and Miocic were supposed to originally collide at UFC 196 back in February, but the Brazilian withdrew from the short-notice match because he was “not feeling 100 percent.”

UFC 198’s PPV main card, which will start promptly at 10 p.m. ET, will feature four other matches. In addition to the main event, top-ranked Middleweight contenders Ronaldo Souza (No. 2) and Vitor Belfort (No. 3) will battle for a potential future 185-pound title shot in the co-featured fight of the night. Of course, UFC 198 will also feature the Octagon debut of Cris Cyborg, who for years has been linked to fight former women’s Bantamweight champion, Ronda Rousey, but the fighters could never agree on a contracted weight. Cyborg will fight Leslie Smith in a 140-pound Catchweight match.