Miocic KOs Werdum, cops title

MANILA, Philippines – Stipe Miocic knocked out an overconfident Fabricio Werdum in the first round to wrest the Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight crown in UFC 198 at the Arena de Baixada in Curitiba, Brazil yesterday.

The 33-year-old Miocic unleashed a solid right hand to send the charging Werdum, 38, down and out as referee Dan Miragliotta halted the bout at the 2.47-minute mark of the opening round.

Miocic has now won three consecutive fights and has improved to 15-2 (win-loss) while sending Werdum, who was making his first title defense since beating Cain Velasquez in UFC 188 last year, to 20-6-1.

“Cleveland, we got a champion,” said Miocic, an Ohio native who came into the fight vowing no less than a victory, during the customary post-fight interview at the Octagon.

Miocic is expected to make his first defense against Allistair Overeem, who gained a crack at the crown after beating Andrei Arlovski in UFC Fight Night: Overeem vs Arlovski in Rotterdam, Netherlands last week.

Miocic came out strong as he mixed his boxing with some stinging kicks to the leg while Werdum, whose long list of victims included Fil-Am Brandon Vera in UFC 85 eight years ago in London, couldn’t get into his groove and was reckless in his attack.

It proved to be Werdum’s undoing as he ran smack into Miocic’s solid counterpunch that sent him reeling.

“He had me guessing, I caught him with a good right and he went down,” said Miocic.

After the defeat, Werdum vowed he would reclaim the belt.

“He (Miocic) was better than I was. But I’m going to come back here and I will be champion again,” he said.