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Joanna Jedrzejczyk Defeats Jessica Andrade in Unanimous Decision at UFC 211

If you still haven’t figured out how to say Joanna Jedrzejczyk’s name, it might be time to figure it out. The Polish striker successfully defended her title at UFC 211 with a unanimous-decision win over Jessica Andrade in the evening’s co-main event Sa…

If you still haven’t figured out how to say Joanna Jedrzejczyk‘s name, it might be time to figure it out. The Polish striker successfully defended her title at UFC 211 with a unanimous-decision win over Jessica Andrade in the evening’s co-main event Saturday in Dallas.

UFC on Fox had the scores from the lopsided decision:

The first frame had all the signs of a great fight forming. Both fighters had success doing what they do best. Jedrzejczyk peppered Andrade with jabs and kicks from the outside, but Andrade’s aggressive forward movement allowed her to land heavy hooks to the head.

Andrade’s strength was also evident early on as she picked up and slammed the champion to the mat. The UFC passed along the highlight:

Former Jedrzejczyk opponent and rival Claudia Gadelha provided some insight into what it’s like to fight the champion after the first round:

The difference in movement between the two fighters highlighted the second round. Andrade’s flurries from the first frame started to miss more regularly as she continued to chase Jedrzejczyk, and the champion simply circled away and peppered her with shots from the outside.

Although the round was mostly one-sided for the champ, the UFC provided the highlights from a close end to the round:

Former UFC fighter Brendan Schaub weighed in on the champion’s masterful striking:

As usual, Jedrzejczyk’s use of range and space was just too much for Andrade to handle. RJ Clifford of SiriusXM summed up the difference between the two rather nicely:

As the disparity grew in the later rounds, it became obvious that two things were on display: Joanna Champion’s excellence and Andrade’s toughness. Damon Martin of Fox Sports gave props to Andrade for continuing to go at the champion despite getting countered at every opportunity:

Toughness can only take someone so far, though. Jedrzejczyk’s skill was simply too much to overcome as she showcased why she’s the undisputed champion of her division.

The win marks yet another notch in the belt for the dynamic Jedrzejczyk. After beating inaugural women’s strawweight champion Carla Esparza in 2014, she has taken the division and run with it, reeling off five successful title defenses.

For Jedrzejczyk, it’s just the beginning of what she hopes will be a career that puts her among the best female fighters of all time.

“I know what I want from myself and what I can expect from myself. I want to be the first female fighter to hold two belts,” Jedrzejczyk said, per Mike Bohn of Rolling Stone. “First I want to reach the record of Ronda Rousey. She had six successful title defenses, which is a pretty big deal to me. I want to be an undefeated champion and retire undefeated. It’s not going to be easy.”

With title defenses, Jedrzejczyk now has the first part of her plan in reach. Just one more defense and she will match Rousey’s mark.

Given her win over Andrade, it’s hard to envision her not successfully defending the belt at least once more.

In her time in the UFC, the champion has shown little in the way of weaknesses in the cage. However, Gadelha was able to push Jedrzejczyk with her grinding wrestling game and strength. Ostensibly, Andrade was the one who could have taken that to another level.

A former bantamweight, Andrade had the size and strength advantage, but Jedrzejczyk still found a way to get through this challenge.

The second part of Jedrzejczyk‘s plan is much more attainable than it once was now, too.

According to Shaun Al-Shatti of MMA Fighting, The Ultimate Fighter 26 will crown the first women’s flyweight champion.

With a weight class now just 10 pounds up for the Jedrzejczyk, the reality of being a two-division champion isn’t far-fetched. It’s a probability.

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UFC on Fox 24 Results: Demetrious Johnson Submits Wilson Reis in Main Event

Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson was a man on a record-setting mission Saturday night in the main event at UFC on Fox 24 from the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Missouri, against latest flyweight title contender Wilson Reis.
Mission accomplished….

Mission accomplished.

Mighty Mouse tied Anderson Silva for the most consecutive UFC title defenses with 10. Johnson has still never been defeated as a flyweight in his career.

After the bout, Johnson didn’t shy away from proclaiming himself as the best champion in the history of the UFC:

Reis may have been a trendy underdog pick against the dominant champion, but he didn’t have much to offer in the early going.

Reis was tentative in the first round, and Johnson was able to establish himself as the more skilled fighter early on, stuffing takedown attempts and answering with knees and kicks to the body. Mighty Mouse even found a way to throw a head kick while controlling Reis’ back, per UFC:

Brett Okamoto of ESPN summed up the early advantage for Mighty Mouse:

Johnson only widened the divide between the two combatants in the second round. Not only was it more brutality to Reis’ body, but he also nearly finished the fight in the end of the five-minute period. He floored Reis with a brutal knee to the body, then took to the ground to try to finish the fight.

The UFC passed along the highlight:

Of course, it wouldn’t be a Mighty Mouse performance without a wrestling clinic, so in Round 3 the champion went to work on his opponent on the ground. Johnson owned the transitions and did whatever he wanted as Reis hopelessly looked for ways to survive.

Like all challengers to Johnson’s throne, that didn’t work out so well.

As the third round was coming to a close, Johnson bloodied Reis and locked on to an armbar that drew the tap from the challenger. And once again, Johnson walked away from a fight as the flyweight champion.

UFC on Fox provided the highlight of the finish:

Reis wasn’t able to pull off the upset, but it was a night that was chock full of them. Beyond the record-tying performance from Mighty Mouse, it was a memorable night of fights on Fox. Here’s a look at the complete results from the night was well as a closer look at the main card fights.

Main Card

Demetrious Johnson def. Wilson Reis, submission (Round 3, 4:49)
Rose Namajunas def. Michelle Waterson, submission (Round 2, 2:47)
Robert Whittaker def. Ronaldo Souza, TKO (Round 2, 3:28)
Renato Moicano def. Jeremy Stephens, split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

Fox Sports 1 Prelims

Alexander Volkov def. Roy Nelson, unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Tom Duquesnoy def. Patrick Williams, TKO (Round 2, 0:28)
Rashid Magomedov def. Bobby Green, split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Tim Elliott def. Louis Smolka, unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

UFC Fight Pass Prelims

Aljamain Sterling def. Augusto Mendes, unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Devin Clark def. Jake Collier, unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26)
Anthony Smith def. Andrew Sanchez, knockout (Round 3, 3:52)
Zak Cummings def. Nathan Coy, submission (Round 1, 4:21)
Ketlen Vieira def. Ashlee Evans-Smith, unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)

Rose Namajunas vs. Michelle Waterson

Rose Namajunas can do just about everything in the cage, and she put that fact on full display against Michelle Waterson. She ultimately displayed her submission skills in ending the fight with a rear-naked choke in the second round.

But it wasn’t just the submission that had Waterson in trouble.

First, there was the grappling ability. Namajunas dominated the first round by controlling Waterson on the mat and rendering her opponent harmless.

Just when it appeared that Waterson might have the striking advantage, Namajunas landed a head kick in the second round that changed the complexion of the fight from one-sided to full-fledged beatdown, per UFC:

This matchup was close on paper, but it turns out that the 24-year-old might finally be coming into her own and elevating her own game. Waterson never really posed a threat to her as she steamrolled a highly deserving title contender.

Namajunas took full advantage of the spotlight, too. She provided a promo-worthy sound clip, warning the rest of the division that she’s coming for the title, per the Las Vegas Review-Journal‘s Heidi Fang:

Given the state of the division, it shouldn’t be long before “Thug” Rose is right in the title picture where she wants to be.

Ronaldo Souza vs. Robert Whittaker

The middleweight division has a new contender, and it isn’t Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza. It’s one Robert “Bobby Knuckles” Whittaker.

The 26-year-old had the epitome of a breakout performance against Jacare.

The question for Whittaker coming in was what would happen when Jacare was able to get the fight to the mat. As it turned out, the answer was nothing. Whittaker shrugged off the prolific grappler and got the fight back to standing position.

The UFC showed the exchange:

From there, Whittaker was able to win the striking battles with power in his hands and feet. He cracked Souza early in the second round and continued to work toward a finish:

Ultimately, he showed a little bit of everything in finishing the fight, starting with a head kick and ending with devastating ground-and-pound, per Fox Sports:

After the fight, Whittaker didn’t hesitate to call out current UFC champion Michael Bisping:

Bisping and Whittaker were actually slated to fight one another in 2015, but Bisping withdrew before the fight took place. Now it looks like that’s a realistic matchup possibility again.

Jeremy Stephens vs. Renato Moicano

What was supposed to be a high-profile showcase for Jeremy Stephens turned into a coming-out party for Renato Moicano. The unranked featherweight defeated the No. 5 ranked veteran via split decision to kick off the main card.

While Brian Stann and Jon Anik spoke of Stephens’ explosive power in his hands, Moicano got to work avoiding those strikes and setting his own pace. Every time Stephens came charging forward Moicano would answer with a leg kick or simply circle out of the way.

The UFC passed along just one example of the Brazilian landing a vicious leg kick:

It wasn’t the most aesthetically pleasing strategy. Dave Doyle of MMA Fighting likened it to Kalib Starnes’ infamous performance against Nate Quarry back in 2008:

Meanwhile, Connor Ruebusch of Bloody Elbow praised Moicano’s fight IQ:

Regardless of how it was obtained, a win is a win. The 27-year-old moved his record to 11-0-1 with the win and should be back in the spotlight sooner rather than later. Even coming off a loss against Frankie Edgar, Stephens is one of the most seasoned veterans in the division.

A win over an opponent of that quality is a huge boost for a prospect like Moicano.

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King Mo Scores Unanimous-Decision Win over Rampage Jackson at Bellator 175

Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal always believed that he had a win over Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, but he didn’t have the official scorecards to prove it. He now has an official victory as he defeated the former UFC star by unanimous decision in the main even…

MMAjunkie tweeted out the scores:

The heavyweight version of Rampage got off to a slow start. The 253-pound Jackson conceded the center and allowed Lawal to back him into the cage where the former collegiate wrestler worked him down to the mat.

Ben Fowlkes of MMAjunkie noted the difference between the bloated Rampage in this fight and the light heavyweight incarnation of the former champion:

Jackson was ultimately able to free himself for long enough to climb along the fence, but it only allowed King Mo to also score plenty of points from the clinch along the cage.

Bloody Elbow recapped the round for King Mo:

Just when it looked like Jackson was simply too out of shape to compete against King Mo, he landed a sharp left hook that turned back time and put King Mo down. From there Jackson jumped into an advantageous position and scored from top position.

Josh Gross of the Guardian set the scene going into the third and final round:

With clear winners in Round 1 and 2, it all came down to Round 3. While Jackson scored a key takedown, it was King Mo who consistently landed the better striking as he had Rampage back to the fence again.

MMAFighting explained its reasoning for giving the round to King Mo:

After the bout, it was announced that King Mo will now see Ryan Bader at Madison Square Garden on June 24 at Bellator 180:

The win has to come as a huge sigh of relief for King Mo. There’s some genuine bad blood between these two fighters, and Lawal dropped a controversial decision in his first bout with Jackson at Bellator 120 in 2014.

After buildup in which Jackson talked of knocking out King Mo, the two engaged in a fight that offered little excitement and Jackson won on the cards.

However, only one of 13 media members scoring the fight gave the bout to Jackson. One called the fight a draw while the other 11 all had Lawal winning the fight, per MMA Decisions.

Understandably, Lawal thought it was pretty clear he won the first fight.

“For what? Cause really, I won the first fight, there shouldn’t be a rematch,” King Mo said in regards to a potential third fight, per Jason Nawara of Uproxx. “But he asked for one, so I gave it to him. That first fight, I thought I won. Most people thought I won. He thought I won. Look at his reaction. He came and asked for a rematch.”

Now that he has an official win over Rampage, there’s some serious vindication in the rivalry.

What this means for King Mo will be interesting going forward, but even more interesting is where Jackson will go from here.

Bellator has proven to be an accommodating home for former UFC veterans, and with Ryan Bader, Chael Sonnen and Wanderlei Silva recently joining the ranks of the organization, an aging Rampage Jackson seems like a good fit moving forward.

There could be an issue with the 38-year-old that would have the fighter awkwardly returning to the UFC again, per Ariel Helwani of MMAFighting:

That would be a bummer for the former UFC champion. Not only has Bellator afforded him the flexibility to fight at heavyweight, but he has momentum with a 4-1 record in the organization.

Then again, Rampage sounds like a man who is about ready to walk away from the sport lately. Jackson mused about a life outside of MMA and missing his family in the lead up to this fight.

“I would have to honestly say that my biggest regret is even starting this sport,” Jackson said, per ESPN. “I think I would’ve lived a different life if I would’ve stayed home in Memphis and worked at the family business. I’d be closer to my family and growing old with them instead of living out at California.”

Jackson later walked those statements back. He stated that his words were taken negatively and reiterated the love for his fans, per Shaun Al-Shatti of MMAFighting.

While Jackson might not have meant that he doesn’t still love the sport, one has to wonder how much longer this heavyweight version of Rampage wants to hang around.

With a bitter loss over one of his biggest rivals and a possible contract issue keeping him from staying with his current organization, the former champ might find this is the perfect time for an exit.

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