UFC 198: What happened when Stipe Miocic challenged Fabricio Werdum for the Heavyweight Title?

UFC 198 was a stacked card, highlighted by a Heavyweight title clash between defending champion, Fabricio Werdum and Stipe Miocic.

Werdum had upset Cain Velasquez at UFC 188 in June 2015 and was defending the title for the first time in his May 2016 defence versus Miocic.

Miocic had beaten contenders Mark Hunt and Andrei Arlovski to earn this title shot but it was still a surprise when he smashed through the champion in under three minutes.

A brutal punch was enough to earn Miocic the Heavyweight Championship.

Ronaldo Souza beat the legendary Vitor Belfort in the first round in a bout where Belfort looked every one of his 39 years. The finish came when the dominant Souza pounded away on Belfort in the mount and the referee halted the massacre. This win shot Souza up the Middleweight rankings.

Cris Cyborg made her long-awaited UFC debut in a Catchweight bout versus Leslie Smith. She took just 81 seconds to defeat Smith with brutal combinations for the TKO win. Post-fight, Smith protested to the referee that she felt the stoppage was premature. However, she did look out and Cyborg had made a real statement of intent.

Leslie Smith: Left devastated by her stoppage loss to Cyborg

In a Light Heavyweight contest, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua edged Corey Anderson via Split Decision in a fight which he was lucky to win in all honesty. It's impossible to see how anyone could believe he won the second and third rounds. Shogun did come close to finishing the bout in the first round but Anderson took over and was the far more aggressive fighter in the subsequent rounds. The hometown here may have benefited from the card being held in Brazil. The win did give him a second consecutive win as he began to build his way back up the rankings.

The final bout on an entertaining card saw the battle of the curiously named duo, Bryan Barberena and Warlley Alves.

Hot prospect, Baberena impressed with a hard-fought win over the far more established, Alves. Barberena showed huge toughness to endure an early pounding from Alves and grew into the bout in brilliant fashion and produced combo after combo to earn the deserved decision victory.