And Still! Four Reasons Fabricio Werdum Will Destroy Stipe Miocic

We are now just one day away from the stacked UFC 198 pay-per-view (PPV) card slated for this Saturday night (May 14, 2016) from Curitiba, Brazil.

The card features a plethora of blockbuster bouts, but the main attraction will be a heavyweight title tilt between defending champion Fabricio “Vai Cavalo” Werdum and rising contender Stipe Miocic.

Miocic has looked strong as of late, picking up back-to-back TKO victories over Mark Hunt and Andrei Arlovski. With a well-rounded skillset, he may be able to give Werdum some serious issues if he plays his cards right.

With that being said, however, “Vai Cavalo” has looked better than ever as of late, and has gradually cemented himself as one of the greatest heavyweights of all-time.

Let’s take a look at four reasons why Werdum will destroy Miocic this weekend.

Motivation

Werdum went into enemy territory and came out with a huge upset victory when he stole the title from former divisional kingpin Cain Velasquez last June at UFC 188 in Mexico City.

Despite the monumental win, “Vai Cavalo” hasn’t competed since.

He was scheduled to rematch Velasquez last February, but the former champion was forced to withdraw from the bout due to injury. Miocic actually signed on to replace Velasquez on short notice, but Werdum then revealed that he too had an injury, and wasn’t willing to fight Miocic, although he would’ve fought on had it been Velasquez.

The reigning champion received quite a bit of criticism for the whole fiasco, and now here we are just under a year later and he hasn’t defended his title.

Werdum should be hungry and highly motivated to stake his claim as the true king of the heavyweight division. A determined “Vai Cavalo” could be a scary, scary, sight for one Stipe Miocic.

To top it off, he’s fighting with the full strength of his homeland fans in his native Brazil, a potentially huge advantage and a boost to his motivation.

Which brings up to our next reason Werdum will win….

Home Field Advantage

Piggybacking off of the self-motivation factor is the fact that this fight is taking place in Werdum’s home of Brazil.

And not only is the fight going down in Brazil, but it will be held at the massive Arena da Baixada, where “Vai Cavalo” will have forty thousand-plus passionate Brazilian fans cheering him on.

The desire to impress in front of his homeland should provide even more motivation for Werdum, and add even more fuel to the burning fire inside of him, which could very well just blow up in Miocic’s face come fight night.

Improved Striking

Striking was never Werdum’s strongest asset, but you wouldn’t be able to tell that from the way he’s been performing as of late.

“Vai Cavalo” has taken his talents to King’s MMA, where he’s become rejuvenated, refocused, and somewhat reshaped under the tutelage of highly-touted coach Rafael Cordeiro. Since returning to the UFC in 2012, Werdum has won six straight bouts, two of which came by way of TKO victory.

He scored a stoppage victory due to strikes over Mike Russow at UFC 147, and battered Travis Browne on the feet for five rounds before picking up a decision win at UFC on FOX 11.

Werdum would then follow that up with an impressive flying knee victory over Mark Hunt to secure the interim title at UFC 188. Most recently, the Brazilian bloodied and battered Velasquez before scoring a submission victory.

“Vai Cavalo” has clearly expanded his repertoire, adding a crisp arsenal of kicks, knees, and elbows while boosting his confidence in the process. This could provide serious trouble for Miocic’s boxing-centered approach.

Submission Prowess

It’s no secret that Werdum’s bread and butter is his grappling. In fact, he’s undoubtedly one of the very best submission artists to have ever competed in MMA.

A second-degree black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Werdum simply has the ability to submit any man, and it turns out that Miocic is quite the strong wrestler.

However, the Croatian-American may not want to take the fight to the ground with Werdum, which could take away one of his strongest assets.

“Vai Cavalo” showed that his jiu-jitsu is game changing in his last bout as Velasquez, another decorated wrestler, shot in for a takedown only to fall into a guillotine choke that would end the bout. If this fight winds up hitting the canvas, it could be a very short night for Miocic.

Whom do you see walking away with the title?