UFC 198 Main Card Odds – The UFC 198 pay-per-view comes to us this Saturday night from Arena da Baixada in Curitiba, Brazil with a card headlined by Fabricio Werdum’s heavyweight title defense against Stipe Miocic.
Werdum has won 9 of his last 10 fights including the stunning defeat in June, 2015 of Cain Velasquez in Mexico City to grab the heavyweight title. Velasquez has not fought since, and he has been inactive at times in recent years, but the Velasquez fight sent the message that he is championship material. Now, he needs to string together a few title defenses.
Miocic, however, will not make it easy for Werdum. Miocic is 14-2 overall and he is on a solid two-fight winning streak since his December, 2014 loss to former champion Junior Dos Santos. He is a big puncher who has a wrestling base and he has overcome the problems with his gas tank that popped up earlier in his career. It will be interesting to see who fights better on the fight, as Werdum’s advances in that area have become apparent as well.
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The rest of the main card is solid, with the big news coming in the women’s division. The long awaited debut of Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino is here as she faces Leslie Smith in a catchweight bout at 140 lbs. The UFC and President Dana White refused to bring “Cyborg” in for years now, and they have finally relented. No matter how good she looks in her debut, the UFC wasted almost five years of her prime indulging in pettiness.
A pair of middleweight fights round out the main card, as veterans Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza and Vitor Belfort meet in a three-round match in the co-feature. It is a Brazilian vs Brazilian clash that could lead to a title shot for the winner. Both men have faced current titleholder Luke Rockhold, but the champion would likely prefer a rematch with Belfort. Rockhold made his UFC debut in May of 2013 against Belfort, who knocked him out in the first round. Since then Rockhold has won five in a row. This is all contingent on Rockhold beating former champion Chris Weidman again in the UFC 199 headline bout set for June 4th.
Also at middleweight, legendary former champion Anderson Silva fights on in his 40s. Here he gets to fight in Brazil in his home city, so Silva is in a feel good situation for this fight. In Hall, he gets a guy who has been up and down in his UFC career. He had five fights in 2015, going 3-2 in that span. In his last fight, back in November, Hall took a loss to Robert Whitaker by unanimous decision. Hall made his debut on “The Ultimate Fighter” reality series where he looked like a million bucks, but he lost in the finals to Kelvin Gastelum, and he is 5-4 in his UFC career. He badly needs a win to avoid dropping to .500 ten fights into his career.
UFC 198 Main Card Odds
Below are the UFC 198 Main Card Odds as they appear at the books.
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Heavyweight 5 rounds –
Stipe Miocic +130 o2½ -110
Fabricio Werdum -150 u2½ -110
Middleweight 3 rounds –
Vitor Belfort +260 o1½ +135
Ronaldo Souza -320 u1½ -155
Middleweight 3 rounds –
Uriah Hall +110 o2½ -135
Anderson Silva -130 u2½ +115
Catchweight 3 rounds –
Leslie Smith +1100 o1½ +205
Cristiane Justino -1700 u1½ -245
