UFC 198, Werdum vs. Miocic odds: Werdum among betting favorites on card in Brazil

Werdum is a -155 betting favorite to defend his heavyweight title at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com. The 38-year-old won the interim UFC Heavyweight Championship with a TKO win over Mark Hunt at UFC 180 and unified the title with a submission win over Cain Velasquez at UFC 188.

Werdum (20-5-1) has always been a strong submission specialist, but improvements in his striking game in recent years have made him even more dangerous.

Miocic (14-2) has strong wrestling skills, but a fight on the mat likely doesn’t work in his favor going up against the dangerous jiu-jitsu of Werdum. Instead, Miocic’s path to victory as a +135 underdog probably includes strong defense and counter punching and keeping the fight on his feet to take advantage of his strong boxing skills.

Miocic has wins in his last two fights after losing two of his previous five.

Leading up to the main event is a middleweight bout between Vitor Belfort (+240) and Ronaldo Souza (-280). Souza (22-4-0) had an eight-fight win streak snapped in a split decision loss against Yoel Romero at UFC 194 and will be eager to bounce back with a win this Saturday.

To do so, he will have to defend against the relentless attack of Belfort (25-11), whose all-or-nothing style in the early rounds has led to six of his last eight fights ending in the first. If Souza can avoid giving Belfort any openings early, his odds of winning the fight greatly improve as Belfort tends to wear out if his early attack doesn’t work.

Other fights on the card include Cris Cyborg (-1600) vs. Leslie Smith (+900), Mauricio Rua (+195) vs. Corey Anderson (-230), Demian Maia (-300) vs. Matt Brown (+250) and Warlley Alves (-625) vs. Bryan Barberena (+475).

The 25-year-old Alves is a perfect 11-0 in his professional MMA career including a 4-0 record in the UFC, an organization rumored to be for sale heading into their card this weekend.