UFC 198 Fallout

History is never on the side of the UFC Heavyweight Champion. Unlike the other titles in the company no single dominate champion has emerged claiming the title for years and making numerous defenses. There have been champion like Couture and Velasquez who held it more than once but in ever single reign the champion has made two or less defenses before losing the title. Fabricio Werdum entered UFC 198 looking to be the the man that finally broke the streak. On paper he was set up well. Werdum has truly world class BJJ and has submitted some of MMA's all time greats. Since heading to King's MMA and train with Rafeal Cordaro he's Muay Thai has become lethal. He didn't just beat Cain Velasquez when he won the title he destroyed him.

UFC 198 could have been his crowning moment. He was main eventing the fourth stadium show in UFC history. It was in his home country of Brazil. But history is never on the side the UFC Heavyweight Champion. Across the cage from Werdum was Stipe Miocic. A fighter man had pegged a future champion. A dangerous fighter with one punch knockout power. Also a fighter who could be the best pure athlete in the division. Werdum got Miocic backing up but made huge mistake. He came charging in hands down and took a right hand to the jaw. It shows just how powerful Miocic is that while back up off balance he could generate that kind of power. Did Werdum get to caught up in the moment? Was it simply fate Miocic would be champion? Does it even matter. Werdum woke up as Miocic celebrated screaming “I'm a world champion!”

In the semi main event of the evening Jacare Souza destroyed Vitor Belfort. While Belfrot and his supporters will point to his knockout of Dan Henderson as proof he' still a contender the facts are he's been utterly destroyed in two of his last three. Against both Souza and Chris Wediman the same story played out. Belfort was taken down quickly mounted and ate a lot of ground and pound punches and elbows. Dispute a BJJ blackbelt and a long career Belfort seemed to have no idea what to do. He barely even bucked his hips to try and get free. Souza whose sole UFC loss was in a close fight where his opponent cheated both during and with PED's might finally have secured that long hunted title shot.

The rest of the card saw a great night for Brazil. Little Nog secured a KO win, Shogun Rua won a close fight over young contender Corey Anderson. Also wind for Maia, Linkier, and Santos. Plus Cyborg was there and crushed a can. Yeah call me when she fight a real threat and fight in a weight class the UFC offers otherwise I don't care.

Biggest Winners-

Stipe Miocic- It was the biggest fight the biggest night of his life. Miocic has always been seen as a fighter with great potential. But in big fight's he's been mixed with results. Strong wins over Hunt and Arlovski are counted by a knockout loss to Struve in his first main event and loss (although disputed) to Dos Santos a few years ago. We had also never seen Mocic fight someone like Werdum with lethal BJJ an ever improving Muay Thai game, and a great history in big fights. Yet Miocic never got over whelmed. He didn't allow Werdum's striking to pick him off or rush into a bad position. Even when backing up he was in control. That one big punch dropped Werdum and changed the line from “Give Me My Shot!” to “I'm a World Champion!” Plus don’t' be shocked if that KO winds up being knockout of the year for a lot sites.

Smaller Gyms- The conventional wisdom in MMA is a fighter with potential who wishes to reach the next level needs to move a city and train with a big team. Hell just look at the reactions to the losses by Rousey and Nortcutt. Many began calling for both fighters to leave there team. OSP has often been criticize for staying in Tennessee and appearing to never grow as a fighter. Yet Miocic stayed with his team in Ohio. Now for every small gym out there looking to build it's own talent and keep them Miocic is an example.

Cleveland- If you weren’t' watching UFC 198 there is a good chance you were watching ESPN's latest 30 for 30 Bleveland. The film looks at the numerous heart breaking moments sport fans in Cleveland have had to deal with. The City had dealt with pretty much everything. The city hasn’t' had a champion since Jim Brown and the Cleveland Browns won the NFL title in the pre super bowl era. Until Saturday night. Miocic broke one of the most powerful curses in sports.

Biggest Losers-

Fabricio Werdum- Since returning the UFC since the end of Strikeforce Werdum has fought as well as any fighter in the world. His wins over Travis Brown and Cain Velasquez were extremely dominate with him picking the believed better striker apart on his feet. So it seem so strange he would go charging in hands down. Going into the event there was talk of “Is Werdum the greatest heavyweight ever?” Well any talk that ended. Why he has three huge wins over Fedor, Big Nog and Velasquez he can now never say he defended the title. And worse of all a lot of it is due to Werdum making a stupid mistake. Back when he was just seen as a BJJ guy it was one thing but over the year he's shown to be very smart on his feet.

Vitor Belfort- Many of Belfort wins have the same story he attacks early with a flurry and scores a knockouts. On the flip side many of his losses play out the same way. He doesn't attack often is forced to wrestle and than just gives up and takes a beating. For a man with a blackbelt in BJJ Belfort offered no resistance on the ground. When this happened to him against Randy Couture he was young and time to rebuild. Now he is 39 years old with a long standing cloud of PED use and much tougher testing. Add into that a good group of middleweights are now in the pack all adding up to him to it be highly unlikely he will get another title shot.

What Comes Next-

It seems Alistair Overeem has the inside track to the next title shot. He's on a long winning streak and would be fresh challenger. He and Miocic could be a really exciting fight. Reem is a talented Thai Boxer with a underrated ground game. Miocic is a former golden gloves champion with great wrestling. Reem a number of year ago was considered the best heavyweight in the sport. He was supposed to challenge for the title many years ago but a bad drug test and a number of stunning losses pushed him down the rankings. But now he' makes total sense.

Jacare did suffer an injury which will keep him from taking the place of Chris Weidman at UFC 199. But there is no reason at all not to give this man the winner of that fight between Rockhold and Bisping. His lone UFC loss should ignored he might be the best submission fighter in all of MMA His striking has become lethal. Assuming Rockhold retains his title there is an added element. Back in Strikforce Rockhold beat Jacare in a very good and very close fight. For years I have wanted a rematch and the cards never fell just right until now.

Fabrico Werdum has already asked for a rematch. Sadly for him it just doesn't make any sense. It's not like he was dominating the fight and lost on a lucky punch. Its also not like he was a long dominate champion unseated after a number of defenses. I think the perfect fight for him would Ben Rothwell. Rothwell. Big Ben just saw his own long winning streak snapped. Had both men won they would have very likely been the next title fight. Rothwell has great KO power and fairly unusual style. While not thought of as a ground fighter he has actually shown great skills in grappling.