Tag: Jessica Andrade

In 2014, Stipe Miocic and Junior dos Santos put on one of the best fights in heavyweight history. That’s not Joe Roganesque hyperbole. The two combined to land 212 significant strikes over five rounds and pushed each other to the brink. 

At UFC 211, the two will run that instant classic back with a championship belt on the line. 

If that weren’t enough to lure your eyeballs to this card, dominant women’s strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk will also put her title on the line against a dangerous opponent in Jessica Andrade in the evening’s co-main event. 

It’s a slate that not only features the two championship bouts, but former and future title contenders in Frankie Edgar, Demian Maia, Jorge Masvidal, Yair Rodriguez and Eddie Alvarez. 

Here’s a look at the complete card, how you can catch all the action and a look at who the biggest winners on the card might be. All odds courtesy of OddsShark. 

 

Potential Biggest Winners

Demian Maia

As the lead-in to the championship double header, Demian Maia is in a spot where there will be a lot of eyes on his matchup with Jorge Masvidal. 

Maia also hasn’t fought since August 2016, so even though he’s riding a six-fight win streak with back-to-back submission wins, he isn’t on the tip everyone’s tongue in the welterweight division. Masvidal—however—is a fighter on the rise with a three-fight win streak and a TKO win over Donald Cerrone in January. 

With a win on a high-profile pay-per-view card over a hot opponent, Maia’s title chances all of a sudden come alive. Of course, that first means he has to beat Masvidal, but he appears to be taking the one-fight-at-a-time approach. 

“Of course I want to fight for the title first, but once we signed for the fight, I cleaned my mind,” Maia said, per Mike Bohn and John Morgan of MMAjunkie. “I said, ‘Let’s go and do what I love, which is fighting.’ I’m very blessed to do that, to do what I love and to go every day to the gym and make my living with that. That’s it.”

This is a classic grappler vs. striker matchup, so it’ll be interesting to see if and when Maia can drag the fight to the mat. 

Masvidal is dangerous on the feet, but he’s been prone to takedowns before. Ross Pearson took him down twice in their fight in 2016, while Benson Henderson, Daron Cruickshank and Pat Healy have all taken him down as well. 

As long as Maia can close the distance without getting tagged, he should be able to score the takedown. From there, it’s a matter of time before he sinks in a choke or maims a limb.

     

Yair Rodriguez

It’s no secret that the UFC wants to push featherweight Yair Rodriguez as a future star in the sport. The decision was to put Rodriguez in a headlining bout against fading legend B.J. Penn.

The allure is easy to see. 

Rodriguez is an entertaining fighter with a penchant for performance bonuses. Since winning The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America in 2014, he’s either won Fight of the Night or Performance of the Night in four of five fights. 

Rodriguez is also one of few Mexican fighters in the organization and part of an even smaller group that have a shot at a UFC title one day. The possibility has Rodriguez believing that he could be a bigger star in his home country than Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. 

“If I become a champion, if I become the first Mexican UFC champion, I can become bigger because I will be the first one,” Rodriguez said, per Damon Martin of Fox Sports. “There are already a lot of Mexican boxers, great boxers. I’m not saying Canelo is not great. He’s great. But I think I can become bigger than that because I’ll be the first one.”

The corrosion on Edgar’s career isn’t as clear as Penn’s. The former champion lost to Jose Aldo at UFC 200 but rebounded with a decision win over Jeremy Stephens. 

Still, at 35 years old with plenty of memorable fights in the book, it’s hard to tell when the other shoe will drop on his career. 

Edgar is always a fighter who has gotten by with savvy and ringcraft, but speed has always come into the equation. He’s going to have a huge discrepancy in length, and Rodriguez isn’t just a good fighter, but also a good athlete.

If Rodriguez can utilize that athleticism to score a win over Edgar, it’s going to be the win that takes him from up-and-comer to bonafide contender.

       

Dustin Poirier

For years, Dustin Poirier has flashed the potential to contend for a UFC championship. For years, he’s come up short when he needs to show up against improved competition.

Diamond gets a chance to change that at UFC 211 when he takes on former lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez in the prelim main event. 

It’s an opportunity that Poirier understands could open some doors if all goes as planned. 

“I told my management, ‘The only way I’m coming back is if it’s a big fight. Otherwise, let me have some time,‘” said Poirier, per Mike Bohn and John Morgan of MMAjunkie. “But as soon as Eddie’s fight came up I said, ‘Let’s do it.’ … When a name comes up like that and you get the opportunity to fight the former champ, you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do and try to get that fight.”

Alvarez is coming off a championship fight where he lost his belt to Conor McGregor. Finding motivation after being knocked down the mountain like that isn’t the easiest thing for most fighters to do. 

In addition to that, Poirier is simply one of the best strikers on the card, according to Reed Kuhn of Fightnomics:

There’s a reason this fight is serving as the lead-in to the pay-per-view portion of the evening. It’s going to set a violent example for the other fights to follow as both Alvarez and Poirier are capable of throwing down. 

If Poirier wins against a former champion in a big spot, it’ll be the sign that he’s finally overcome some of his demons against quality competition. 

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Summer blockbuster season kicks off early for MMA fans, with UFC 211 on Saturday, May 13. 

Two belts will be on the line in the main and co-main events. A heavyweight rematch between Stipe Miocic and Junior dos Santos headlines the event, coming after the women’s strawweight championship fight between Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Jessica Andrade. 

Both champions have looked excellent in defending their titles the last time out, but both are presented with dangerous challenges to cap off a night full of intriguing fights. 

Here’s a look at the card for the evening, ticket information, the latest odds from OddsShark and predictions for the biggest fights.

Tickets: Score Big

     

Stipe Miocic vs. Junior dos Santos

The heavyweight championship bout is a sequel to one of the better heavyweight fights in recent memory. The last time these two met, they landed 212 combined significant strikes in an all-out war. 

Back then, Miocic was considered a long shot against Cigano. According to OddsShark, the current champion was a 13-4 underdog against the former champion. 

Ultimately, Miocic lost a unanimous decision, but he held his own, even taking at least one round on each of the judge’s scorecards. Despite the loss, it was Miocic‘s launching pad as a serious contender in the heavyweight division. 

“The lesson I learned, not even really a lesson as much as, just knowing that I belong,” Miocic said, per Dave Doyle of MMA Fighting. “I belong, that I can hang anyone. I went five rounds with a former champ, a guy who has been a knockout artist, and I went five rounds with him, I know I belong. I know that I’m not going anywhere, and look at where I’m at now.”

Fast-forward three years and this matchup is a little more high profile. What was once a rebound fight for Cigano is now one he’s the slight underdog in, but he believes that he’ll actually fare even better against Miocic this time around. 

“It’s going to be done early,” Dos Santos predicted, per Fernanda Prates and John Morgan of MMAjunkie. “It’s not going to take five rounds for sure. We know a little bit more of each other, so we’r going to be able to do a better strategy for this fight. I’m very confident. I’m saying I’m going to beat him before the end of the second round.”

Both fighters have come a long way since their first encounter. Since that loss, Miocic is fighting with a whole new level of confidence and has knocked out his last four opponents, including Fabricio Werdum and Alistair Overeem in championship fights. 

Meanwhile, Dos Santos put in one of the most complete performances of his career against Ben Rothwell and is looking to get his spot back as the king of the division. 

However, the area that Miocic has improved the most—his counterpunching—could be the difference here. Look for him to catch JDS coming in after a few rounds to secure a fifth straight knockout win. 

Prediction: Miocic via third-round TKO

      

Joanna Jedrzejczyk vs. Jessica Andrade

Thus far, the toughest challenge to Jedrzejczyk‘s championship reign in the women’s strawweight division came in the form of a big, strong grappler in Claudia Gadelha. That’s going to change at UFC 211. 

The undefeated Joanna Champion will take on an even bigger (both literally and figuratively) challenge in Andrade. The Brazilian is a former women’s bantamweight contender with a 3-0 record since dropping down to strawweight. 

Not only does Andrade‘s power pose a threat to the champion, but the way she deliver’s that power makes this fight interesting as well. Jedrzejczyk is a measured fighter, calculating in doling out her devastation through a wide variety of strikes. 

Andrade is just the opposite. A throwback brawler who is looking to exchange whenever possible, she’s going to return fire when strikes come her way.

It’s the unpredictability that she believes will be one of her greatest assets in taking the belt from the champ, per Damon Martin of Fox Sports: 

“The way that I put pressure on in fights is something Joanna has never had to deal with. She’s not used to someone just bullying her or just grabbing her and with pressure all the time. This is something we’re expecting her to have problems with because she is so technical, she is someone who comes from a really strong technical background. We know this from history that people who are too technical, they sometimes lose themselves with an opponent who are not as technical or not as predictable as them. This is something we are really hoping will make a difference. We know that it’s going to make a difference cause I’ll be honest, it’s really difficult to prepare against someone like me.”

Meanwhile, Jedrzejczyk isn’t necessarily sold on Andrade being her toughest opponent, per UFC Tonight:

Although Andrade has the experience of fighting at 135 pounds, the champion will still be the taller, longer fighter on Saturday night. That could be the difference, as she will definitely look to put the challenger on the end of her jab and send kicks to the body and legs. 

Andrade will have her moments—and could conceivably pull off the upset in those moments—but the champion’s ability to thrive from range should keep her relatively safe. Jedrzejczyk sweeps the later rounds to earn the decision despite early trouble. 

Prediction: Jedrzejczyk by decision

     

Jorge Masvidal vs. Demian Maia

There are many good non-championship fights on this card, but the best and most important one might be the high-profile welterweight bout between Jorge Masvidal and Demian Maia. 

Much like the women’s strawweight title fight, it’s a delightful contrast in styles. In one corner you have the free-swinging brawler in Masvidal and in the other the brilliant ground technician in Maia. The winner will have a lot of momentum in the division, and the odds indicate a tough fight to prognosticate. 

Masvidal doesn’t lack confidence. While his vitriol on Twitter is mostly aimed at Michael Bisping at the moment, he has adopted the slogan “easy money” for this fight. 

Maia is obviously known for his world-class grappling chops, but Masvidal wants to put those to the test. 

“When I beat that guy by outpositioning him, outwrestling him, people are going to know how good my grappling is,” Masvidal said, per Fox Sports’ Martin. “They’re going to see the best of ‘Gamebred.’ This ain’t just talking. I’ve been here for a long time—people just haven’t been paying attention.”

Confidence is good, but hubris oftentimes leads to the fall. 

If Masvidal‘s game plan is truly to grapple with Maia, he’s going to have a bad time. Masvidal‘s takedown defense has never been elite, and Maia’s submission game is good enough to tap anyone in the division if they are willing to roll with him. 

Masvidal has all the tools on the feet to deliver a devastating knockout, but it’s going to take a careful avoidance of the ground game to win. It doesn’t sound like he’s too concerned about taking those risks on the mat, though, and that could be his undoing. 

Prediction: Maia via second-round submission

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