Fabrício Werdum vs. Stipe Miocic – UFC 198 Breakdown / Film Study / Highlights
UFC 198: Werdum vs. Miocic, is on May 14, 2016, at Arena da Baixada in Curitiba, Brazil. The main event is a UFC Heavyweight Championship bout between current champion Fabrício Werdum and top contender Stipe Miocic.
They were scheduled to meet at UFC 196 when Miocic would’ve replaced former two-time champion, Cain Velasquez. Instead, Werdum announced on the following day that he was pulling out of the event due to injury as well as he wasn’t comfortable with the opponent change while dealing with his own injuries.
While making this video, I realized this matchup reminds me a bit of a Frankie Edgar fight of yesteryear. So many of his opponents had the better pedigree (now Frankie is a Black Belt in BJJ for example), and were seemingly more dangerous in multiple facets of the game.
Stipe Miocic doesn’t seem to have much of an advantage over Fabricio Werdum (despite the betting line being quite close) in any of the three major facets of the game: striking, clinching, or grappling. With that said he has “heart” for days, with wonderfully fluid footwork and is certainly the faster more fleet of the two.
With that in mind, I realized that while I will break this down and point out as many technical things that I can (given my limited library). There isn’t much of a do’s and don’t’s beyond some of the obvious things (Werdum’s guard), but there is a bit of a peek into both athlete’s skillset(s) and potential things to look for. Something tells me to expect the unexpected here.
The Current UFC Heavyweight Champion
Fabrício Werdum is a Brazilian mixed martial artist and the current UFC Heavyweight Champion. He’s a 2 time BJJ world champion, a two-time ADCC World Champion and European BJJ champion. He holds Black Belts in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Judo, and Muay Thai (under Rafael Cordeiro, I know….).
And while Cordeiro’s “High Flying Muay Thai” is far from traditional, (giving out belts etc.) many of the concepts that translate best to MMA are there (Chute-Boxe (trans. Kick Box) inspired Thai Plum and knees). For example, while maybe not DJ good, Werdum’s clinch (especially knees from the plum) is one of the very best in the game, and definitely the best in his division.I believe his large hands and grappling superiority (along with technical efficacy) make this the case, much like his feet aid his guard.
As of March 7, 2016, he is ranked #4 in official UFC pound-for-pound rankings and ranked as the #1 heavyweight and #5 pound-for-pound fighter in the world by Sherdog.
He was the first fighter to decisively defeat Fedor Emelianenko in mixed martial arts. He also holds notable victories over Cain Velasquez, Alistair Overeem, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, and Mark Hunt. He is 6 ft 4. in (1.93 m) / Weight 239 lb (108 kg) / with a reach of Reach 77.0 in.
The Submission Specialist
He is 20-5-1 with 6 KO’s and 10 Submissions, with his last decision loss to Alistair Overeem in 2011, and his last time being stopped in 2008, by Junior Dos Santos.
Stipe Miocic is an American mixed martial artist who competes in the Heavyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He is #2 in official UFC heavyweight rankings. As a former Golden Gloves participant and NCAA Division I wrestler, he debuted in MMA winning his first five fights by knockout.
He is 6 ft 4 in (193 cm) / Weight 240 lb (110 kg) with a reachof 80.0 in.
His record is 14-2 with 10 KO’s and 1 Submission. He similarly has a loss to JDS (5 round decision, in 2014) and was TKO’d by Stefan Struve in 2012.
Stipe has better footwork and is a little quicker and more angular than Werdum. He will need to use all of this ring savvy to get past Werdum’s kicks, into boxing range, where he has the advantage while avoiding the clinch and takedowns, where he probably will not. A tall order indeed.
The line for the fight is – Werdum (-155) vs Miocic (+135)
