Stipe Miocic hopes to wipe smiles off Brazilians’ faces at UFC 198

Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight contender Stipe Miocic must feel like he’s seeing his opponent everywhere he looks this week.

He’d better get used to the sight.

A popular mask in Brazil features the perpetually smiling face of heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum, and the native hero hopes all 45,000 in attendance for UFC 198 on Saturday at a soccer stadium in Curitiba will be holding one in front of their face as the fighters walk to the cage for the main event.

Miocic is ready for the challenge, even if he’s the only person in the arena without a mask.

“It’s funny,” he said. “But I wouldn’t buy one. It’s too much money for me.”

Miocic has his eyes set on a different souvenir of his trip to Brazil.

“I’m going home with the belt around my waist and getting married in a couple weeks, so I’m OK with that,” the Ohio native said. “I love shutting people up. I love when people tell me I can’t do something. Nothing against them at all, they’re just passionate fans. They’re just supporting their guy. There’s nothing wrong with that.

“It’s been a great adventure, but it’s not going to end until that belt is strapped around my waist.”

It won’t be easy to take the title from Werdum, a jiu-jitsu ace who has run through the division with six consecutive victories since getting a second chance in the UFC.

Werdum’s winning streak coincided with vast improvements in his striking game to go with perhaps the best submission skills in the division.

He went 2-2 in UFC fights in 2007 and 2008 before he was released. While his losses came against Junior dos Santos and Andrei Arlovski, Werdum found himself needing to rebuild his career in Strikeforce.

He did so by winning his next three fights, including a first-round submission that ended the 27-fight winning streak of legendary heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko in 2010.

Werdum lost his next fight to Alistair Overeem, but found himself in the UFC after the organization purchased Strikeforce, and has taken full advantage of the opportunity. Werdum won the interim title with a knockout of Mark Hunt in 2014, then unified the belts with a dominant performance in a third-round submission of Cain Velasquez in June.

Now Werdum gets to fulfill a longtime goal of headlining a UFC event in a soccer stadium. It’s particularly meaningful because he spent two years living and training in Curitiba early in his career.

“It’s very special for me and for the sport,” he said. “I’m very excited for this moment. Imagine 45,000 people in a stadium screaming your name. I’m so excited for this fight.”

He won’t be the only fighter with massive crowd support.

Brazilians Vitor Belfort and Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza will meet with a potential middleweight title shot on the line.

Both are popular in their home country, particularly Belfort, who has been a star since winning the UFC light heavyweight title in 2004 and is married to a popular Brazilian actress.

Fans might find themselves having to choose their allegiances in the pivotal fight. That won’t be the case when Cris “Cyborg” Justino steps into the cage.

Long considered one of the world’s best female mixed martial artists, Justino has been on the outside of the organization looking in mostly because she doesn’t think she can make the 135-pound limit for the UFC’s biggest weight class for women.

But with an event in the town where she was born and raised, UFC officials finally relented and signed her to fight in a 140-pound special attraction against Leslie Smith.

It’s not expected to be much of a fight.

Justino is a minus-1,700 favorite, and that might be generous. She has called out Ronda Rousey for years, but knew that fight wasn’t going to happen. So she hoped to instead fight Holly Holm, but the former champion reportedly turned down the bout.

“People say what they want in interviews, but when they get a contract, they say other things,” Justino said of Holm this week. “I think it’s business. She wants to fight for the belt first. She’s coming off a loss and wants to get a win back. I guess that’s her team’s plan.”

Smith doesn’t have the same credentials as Holm, but the underdog is optimistic based off a training session with Justino several years ago.

“What it does for me is lets me know I’m not going to be scared,” Smith said. “I’ve already been hit by this woman, and I know it didn’t crumble me or make me scared.

“We’re both winning from this. She gets her first fight in the UFC because nobody else was going to take it, and I get to fight at this event.”

At least she won’t have to see those grinning Werdum masks. But she probably will hear the infamous “Uh vai morrer” chant that is so popular during UFC events in Brazil.

Translated from Portuguese, it essentially means “You will die.”

Miocic won’t be bothered.

“I’ve heard it before. I fought here two years ago,” he said. “There were actually more people cheering for me (this week at open workouts) than telling me I was going to die.”

Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509. Follow @adamhilllvrj on Twitter.