Report: Werdum-Miocic heavyweight title fight in works for UFC 198 in May

Stipe Miocic is close to his long-awaited title shot after all.

The nagging injuries that forced UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum to withdraw from the main event of UFC 196 (now UFC Fight Night 82) will apparently not stop him from defending his belt against Miocic at UFC 198 in Brazil on May 14, according to Combate.

Miocic has long been in the mix for a championship fight, and it looked like he put the stamp on his campaign with a violent knockout of Andrei Arlovski in January. However, it took injuries to both Werdum and No. 1 contender Cain Velasquez for Miocic's number to be called.

That card was originally a UFC Fight Night that was scheduled to be headlined by Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza and Vitor Belfort, but it now becomes UFC 198 with Werdum and Miocic closing out the show.