The UFC drew the third largest crowd in its history when 45,207 fans entered Arena da Baixada in Curitiba, Parana, Brazil to catch UFC 198.
And while the night went pretty well for the home country fighters, the main event didn’t go the way the Brazilian fans hoped it would.
In the headlining bout, Stipe Miocic became the 15th different fighter to claim the UFC heavyweight crown when he knocked out the incumbent champion, Brazilian-born Fabricio Werdum.
In the co-main event between two Brazilian fighters, Ronaldo Souza stopped former light heavyweight champion Vitor Belfort with strikes.
In all, the Brazilian contingent went 8-2 against non-Brazilian fighters on Saturday night.
Let’s take a few minutes to look back at 10 memorable moments from the card, the first UFC event to be held in a Brazilian soccer stadium.
1. The sounds of silence
How do you silence 45,207 Brazilian MMA fans in a second? One way is to be an American who knocks out a Brazilian and takes his title.
At least that’s how Miocic (15-2 MMA, 9-2 UFC) did it at UFC 198.
When Werdum (20-6-1 MMA, 8-3 UFC) got a little reckless in his striking, Miocic, who was backing up at the time, landed a perfectly placed right hand that turned out Werdum’s lights. With Werdum on the ground, Miocic sprinted across the Octagon, launching himself over the fence and into the arms of his team where he screamed, “I’m the world champ! I’m the world champ!”
2. Making statements
For a guy who’s known as a ground specialist, Souza (23-4 MMA, 6-1 UFC) sure looked like a world-class striker at UFC 198. Souza overwhelmed Belfort (25-12 MMA, 14-8 UFC), landing punches and elbows seemingly at will, on the way to a first-round TKO victory.
With the win, Souza cemented his name as the top contender to face the winner of the upcoming UFC 199 fight between current middleweight champion Luke Rockhold and former champ Chris Weidman.
“I deserve a title shot. I think that I earned it, and I deserve the fight,” said Souza after Saturday’s win.
3. And now?
Cristiane Justino walked into the Octagon at UFC 198 and in 81 seconds her night was over. That’s how long it took Justino (15-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) to finish Leslie Smith (8-7-1 MMA, 2-3 UFC) via strikes in their 140-pound catchweight fight.
Justino’s win leads to the inevitable question of what next? She nixed the idea of dropping to 135 pounds, but did say she was open to fighting again in the octagon at catchweight.
Justino received a great deal of major media attention ahead of this fight, and odds are she’ll receive more following her dominant win. Now the UFC has to decide if it wants to work with Justino moving forward.
4. Smith voices her displeasure
Standing in the center of the octagon and waiting for Bruce Buffer to announce her TKO loss, Smith did little to hide her disappointment in referee Eduardo Herdy’s stoppage. As she watched the fight replay, Smith was caught on camera shouting, “I never (expletive) stopped, (expletive) that.”
Given some time to reflect on the stoppage, Smith’s anger did not subside, so she took to Facebook to vent her frustrations.
5. He’s ready
Bryan Barberena is turning into quite the spoiler in the welterweight division. In his previous outing, he brought the Sage Northcutt hype train to a screeching halt. At UFC 198 he did the same, defeating the surging Warlley Alves.
Barberena (12-3 MMA, 3-1 UFC) ended Alves’ (10-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) 10-fight winning streak, earning a unanimous decision. It was an impressive performance by a man who, if you went by the odds, was barely given a chance.
After the victory, Barberena put his doubters on notice.
“Keep giving me challenges,” said Barberena. “Give me a ranked guy and I’ll knock him down, too. My opponents in the UFC have been a combined (42-1) before they fought me. I’m ready.”
6. Too much Maia business
Given the choice of how to spend an evening in Brazil, very few people would elect to have a world-class submission artist draped across their back looking for a choke for 15 minutes. Unfortunately for Matt Brown, that’s exactly how he spent Saturday night.
Demian Maia (23-6 MMA, 17-6 UFC) put together an almost perfect performance in the welterweight contest, getting Brown (20-14 MMA, 13-8 UFC) to the mat in each round while continuously looking for an opening for a submission.
With one minute to go in the third round, Maia found the opportunity he was looking for, locking in a choke and earning his fifth straight win. After the fight, Maia called for the fans and media to help him get a shot at the title currently held by Robbie Lawler.
7. Wrong kind of crowd participation
Brown didn’t have many fans inside the Arena da Baixada. That probably had something to do with the fact that he turned his back to the crowd at Friday’s weigh-in and gave them a double bird salute.
Some of Brown’s newfound enemies showed their distaste for the American fighter by swinging at him as he walked to the octagon to face Maia. At least one of the fans who put hands on Brown was tossed from the arena.
Things didn’t get any better for Brown on Sunday when he was allegedly jumped by a former coach at the host hotel.
8. Two fighters, two different questions
When Nate Marquardt knocked out C.B. Dollaway in December it was just his second win in seven fights. With that win, Marquardt (34-16-2 MMA, 12-9 UFC) earned another chance to prove he could still compete in the middleweight division.
The UFC matched Marquardt against Thiago “Marreta” Santos at UFC 198, and things did not go well for Marquardt. Santos’ (13-3 MMA, 5-2 UFC) striking was on point from the start of the contest, and with 1:30 left in the first round he unleashed a flurry that ended Marquardt’s night. The stoppage put Santos’ winning streak at four straight.
After the win, Santos called for a fight against Michael Bisping, Derek Brunson or Robert Whittaker. While the UFC brass thinks about whom Santos fights next, they’ll also have to think about if Marquardt should fight for the promotion again.
9. Back and forth and back
The lightweight fight between Francisco Trinaldo and Yancy Medeiros started out slow, but heated up at the end of the first round.
Trinaldo (20-4 MMA, 10-3 UFC) opened up his striking with one minute left in the first round. Medeiros (12-4 MMA, 3-4 UFC) spent the last 30 seconds of the round getting battered by Trinaldo and listening to the crowd chant “uh vai morrer.”
Medeiros came back in the second round and had Trinaldo in trouble late, but he could not finish. In the third round it was once again Trinaldo’s fight, as he used a varied striking attack to come very close to finishing the fight.
Trinaldo walked away with the win, and both fighters left with $50,000 in bonus money for delivering “Fight of the Night.”
10. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira not going anywhere
It’s hard to believe, but Antonio Rogerio Nogueira’s (22-7 MMA, 5-4 UFC) first-round TKO victory over Patrick Cummins in their light heavyweight matchup was the veteran fighter’s first win since he defeated Rashad Evans more than three years ago at UFC 156.
Nogueira looked good in victory, stopping Cummins’ takedown attempts and using his boxing skills to finish the fight at 4:52 of the first round.
Before the fight, Nogueira said his goal was to make a run in the division; a win over a fighter that was just outside the top 15 is a good way to begin that run.
For complete coverage of UFC 198, check out the UFC Events section of the site.
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