UFC 211 Miocic vs. Dos Santos 2 | UFC Betting Sites

The Question: What Was the UFC Thinking Feeding Yair Rodriguez to Frankie Edgar?

There are levels to this game.
That was Frankie Edgar’s message on Saturday at UFC 211 after the former lightweight champion and longtime men’s featherweight contender dispatched rising prospect Yair Rodriguez via an ugly second-round doctor stoppage.
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There are levels to this game.

That was Frankie Edgar‘s message on Saturday at UFC 211 after the former lightweight champion and longtime men’s featherweight contender dispatched rising prospect Yair Rodriguez via an ugly second-round doctor stoppage.

In one fell swoop, Edgar proved he still has life as a championship contender. And while Rodriguez’s time might be coming, the young pup isn’t quite ready to run with the proverbial big dogs at 145 pounds.

“Before the fight, I said no matter what happens, Yair is going to be a superstar,” Edgar told UFC color commentator Joe Rogan in the cage when the fight was over. “Just not yet, you know? Sometimes you need losses like that to get to the next level.”

Do you, though? Really?

Even before this match became reality, observers were wondering what the UFC could be thinking. Rodriguez was an obvious blue-chip prospect, a potential linchpin in the company’s plan to expand its brand into the Mexican fight market. Wasn’t sending him out there against a guy the caliber of Edgar sort of a suicide mission at this stage?

Answer: Yes, and now that we’ve all seen the lopsidedness of their fight, we have even more questions than before.

Why would the UFC take one of its brightest rising stars and feed him through a Frankie Edgar-branded meat grinder? What exactly did that accomplish? Didn’t it just squander all of Rodriguez’s momentum for essentially no reason?

Joining me to discuss these and other vexing questions about this strategy (or, perhaps, lack thereof) is Bleacher Report featured columnist Steven Rondina.

Steven Rondina: This is why we can’t have nice things. The UFC just won’t let it happen.

Twenty-four-year-old super prospect Rodriguez was supposed to be the MMA equivalent of a turnkey product. There wasn’t a single aspect of his existence that was hard to sell to fans and media partners.

Young? Check. Athletic? Check. Good-looking dude? Check. Exciting in-cage style? Check. First-of-his-kind talent from a market the UFC is looking to break into? Check. Undefeated? Check.

I’m not a fight promoter, but I feel like building up Rodriguez should be the easiest part of Dana White‘s day. The UFC brass, however, made it look like freaking calculus when they pitted Rodriguez against Edgar, who put such a thorough beating on him that it drew a rare doctor stoppage after the second round.

Even after sleeping on it, this contest feels dumb to the point I’m wondering what the heck the UFC could’ve been thinking. So I ask you, Chad. Is there something here I’m not seeing? Or is this just a complete gaffe by the UFC?

Chad Dundas: Mostly, I feel as confused about this booking as you do, Steven.

Even when the fight company announced the matchup back in March, it seemed nonsensical. Rodriguez was streaking, having won six bouts in a row in the Octagon, but he hadn’t fought anyone close to Edgar’s caliber. On top of that, one of the things we knew about the youngster was that his unorthodox offense required space to get going.

The rare instances when Rodriguez had struggled—like against Alex Caceres in August 2016—came against fighters who limited his arsenal of spinning kicks by dictating the range. Edgar is a master in that aspect of the fight game, possessing a high-pressure, highly mobile boxing attack with lightning-quick takedowns and smothering top control.

On paper, this looked like a nightmare pairing of styles for Rodriguez.

In practice? Same.

So what was the UFC thinking? Maybe it was gambling that it could press fast-forward on El Pantera’s hype and rocket him straight to the top with a win over Edgar. Or maybe Edgar’s somewhat tepid recent performance against Jeremy Stephens at UFC 205 convinced UFC brass he’d lost a step. Maybe there weren’t any better available matchups for Yair.

Perhaps, as noted on the UFC 211 broadcast, it was a simple matter of Rodriguez asking to fight Edgar and having his wish granted. I dunno.

In any case, all those notions were wrong. Now we’re left to sift through the aftermath.

Steven, considering Rodriguez’s relative youth and inexperience, how much do you think this loss ends up hurting his stock as a super prospect? Might there be a silver lining buried in all this murk?

Rondina: I’ll go on record as saying there is absolutely, positively no silver lining to this fight on any level. As I stated in my recap of the fight, nobody won here. There were only varying levels of loser.

Don’t get me wrong, Rodriguez’s career isn’t over. At 24, he’s a youngster in a deceptively old division. And while he left the cage with his face badly bruised and swollen, he didn’t seem to suffer any catastrophic injury or suffer a massive concussion that will steal competitive years from him.

But did Edgar get anything out of this victory? Nope. Rodriguez’s name doesn’t add anything to his resume or legacy, and he is still locked in title-shot purgatory, waiting for somebody other than Jose Aldo (who has defeated him twice) to hold the featherweight belt.

Were the fans treated to something special at UFC 211? Nope. This wasn’t an especially exciting contest, and it wasn’t a technical marvel that sent hardcore fans home happy.

Did the UFC set anything up down the road with this matchup? Nope. While losing to a Cub Swanson or Chan Sung Jung could have laid the framework for a potential championship bout, this didn’t add intrigue or promotional value to any hypothetical contest that could come together in its aftermath.

Do you agree on all that? Is there some redeeming value I’m not privy to? Any lessons you took away from this?

Dundas: I don’t think it’s quite as meaningless for Edgar as all that.

After a loss to Aldo at UFC 200 and then the Stephens fight, in which he didn’t quite live up to his previous standard, Edgar needed this win to prove he’s still an elite fighter wherever he decides to ply his trade. If nothing else, blowing the doors off Rodriguez reminded us all that The Answer only loses to championship-level opposition (and Gray Maynard).

He’s in great shape moving forward, either to challenge the winner of the featherweight title unification bout between Aldo and Max Holloway at UFC 212 or to make his services available in some other high-profile spot.

With rumors going around that Cody Garbrandt might be out of his men’s bantamweight title defense against TJ Dillashaw at UFC 213, Edgar could even toss his hat in the ring there. If I were him—and assuming I could make the weight—I’d call UFC brass and offer to drop to 135 pounds and take on Dillashaw in a championship eliminator.

Wouldn’t that be something?

As for Rodriguez? Who knows, man? He’s still so young he could rehabilitate himself. The question will be whether this loss spurs him to take his preparation and skill set to the next level.

Rodriguez’s offense is dynamic, but against top-level opposition he needs a Plan B or better takedown defense or something.

I doubt this defeat changes his long-term fortunes that much, but it is certainly a significant setback. As you noted, the most disappointing thing is it came in a fight the UFC didn’t have to make. Matchmakers easily could’ve held Rodriguez out until a more competitive matchup was available.

There’s definitely blame to be placed for hurrying him into this bout, and I’m afraid it must either fall on the UFC or on Rodriguez and his handlers. A prospect of his potential but relative inexperience just didn’t belong in there with Edgar at this stage of his career.

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After Record-Setting Win, Joanna Champion Needs Ronda Rousey-Style Push from UFC

Joanna Jedrzejczyk threw more than 350 strikes at Jessica Andrade Saturday at UFC 211, according to the official Fightmetric statistics for their bout.
Not all those shots landed, of course—but, boy, it sure seemed that way.
When the smoke cleare…

Joanna Jedrzejczyk threw more than 350 strikes at Jessica Andrade Saturday at UFC 211, according to the official Fightmetric statistics for their bout.

Not all those shots landed, of course—but, boy, it sure seemed that way.

When the smoke cleared on another record-setting performance by Jedrzejczyk, the UFC strawweight champion had earned a five-round, shutout victory over the hard-charging Andrade (50-45, 50-44, 50-45).

It was nothing short of masterful, and the typically reserved Jedrzejczyk let the MMA world hear about it when she was done.

“There is only one strawweight champion: Joanna Jedrzejczyk of Poland. Remember that,” she declared to UFC color commentator Joe Rogan inside the cage. “No one is taking this belt from me. Nobody.”

The win moved the woman nicknamed Joanna Champion to within one fight of tying Ronda Rousey’s mark of six consecutive title defenses. Jedrzejczyk will likely get that chance later this year against popular contender Rose Namajunas, in what could be the biggest matchup the 115-pound division has produced in its short history.

Against Andrade, Jedrzejczyk also broke her own records for leg kicks (75) and strike differential (+141), while out-landing the 25-year-old Brazilian 215-74.

The lasting impression was that Jedrzejczyk remains leaps ahead of the next-best competition. With a 14-0 overall record, eight straight wins in the UFC and victories over each of the division’s Top Three-ranked challengers, it’s unclear who can come along to rival her.

If the UFC is looking for a new heir to invest a Rousey-level promotional push in, it may as well call off the hunt.

Jedrzejczyk is the complete package. As new UFC ownership at WME-IMG continues to scrounge for fresh faces to build into a new generation of stars, she seems the most obvious and deserving choice.

The 29-year-old Poland native has too much speed, skill and tenacity for her contemporaries. Her performances in the cage routinely earn wide-eyed praise from all corners, as evidenced by the outpouring of social media love she earned by so easily dispatching Andrade.

The media is on board:

Former opponents can’t help but marvel:

Even the UFC’s biggest star is a fan:

Outside the Octagon, Jedrzejczyk possesses a quirky charisma that also makes her an easy sell to the sport’s hardcore fanbase. If the UFC awarded her with the full might of the public relations blitz it once bestowed on Rousey, it’s possible the flicker of excitement she’s engendered inside the MMA bubble might spread into a good-sized blaze outside it.

Jedrzejczyk is not Rousey, obviously, and it’s difficult to believe she could ever enjoy quite the same level of mainstream acclaim. But if the world’s largest MMA promoter is in as desperate need of new draws as we’ve been led to believe through the first four-and-a-half months of 2017, there may be no better candidate on the roster.

Like Rousey, Jedrzejczyk’s dominance in her first handful of title defenses has been staggering, though in a distinctly different way. While Rousey’s Olympic-level judo skills manifested in a series of quick and easy first-round submissions, Jedrzejczyk uses pinpoint kickboxing skills and next-generation footwork to whittle her opponents down over 25 minutes.

You can’t fit her fights into an Instagram video, but the complete picture is just as awe-inspiring and arguably more interesting than what Rousey used to offer. So far, it also hasn’t left consumers feeling cheated or like she’s being artificially propped up by her fight company bosses.

While Rousey occasionally felt like a reflection of what UFC ownership wanted women’s MMA to look and act like, Jedrzejczyk’s rise has been more authentic. She’s shaped the UFC strawweight division in her own image, not the other way around.

Jedrzejczyk sprang from obscurity when she defeated Carla Esparza to win the strawweight title at UFC 185 in March 2015. Over the course of the next two years, her greatness has revealed itself without a lot of obtrusive meddling from the UFC.

She is once again a reminder that you seldom get to pick your superstars in this unpredictable sport. As a promoter, you get who you get and you make the best of it.

And Jedrzejczyk is nothing if not the best.

All her greatest qualities—her unassuming charm, endearing pre-fight antics and cold-blooded, snowballing offense—were well on display this weekend against Andrade.

Jedrzejczyk began by feeding Andrade a steady diet of leg kicks and jabs, but by the second round, her relentless attack began to diversify. The jab slowly blossomed into full-fledged and dizzying punching combinations. Her low kicks spread up the legs, morphing into thudding knees to Andrade‘s midsection and, eventually, whipping kicks that paint-brushed across the side of the challenger’s head.

Andrade was the shorter but obviously more powerful fighter, and she had been impressive in three straight wins since dropping to strawweight from bantamweight in June 2016. Against Jedrzejczyk, however, her might was outgunned by sheer technical brilliance.

To her credit, Andrade never stopped charging forward, trying to turn the bout into a brawl with winging power punches. When she did manage to connect, she did damage—raising a welt above Jedrzejczyk’s right eye in the first round that got increasingly worse as the fight wore on.

But soon enough it was clear that Andrade’s bull-rush attack was all she had to offer, and it wasn’t going to be enough. Jedrzejczyk was too fleet of foot, too good at reversing position when Andrade forced a clinch and too adept at maneuvering out of her takedown attempts.

To date, nobody has had an answer for the rising tide of punishment the champion dishes out during her fights.

In July, Jedrzejczyk foiled the grappling-based attack of Claudia Gadelha.

Four months later at UFC 205, she bested Karolina Kowalkiewicz’s striking game.

Saturday at UFC 211, she systematically wore down and dashed Andrade’s brute force assault.

If there is a woman or a style in her division that can beat her, we haven’t seen it yet—and perhaps that more than anything makes her worthy of a stratospheric push from the UFC.

With Namajunas likely on deck—bringing her own unique appeal and a good deal of interest from MMA fans—the time is now to see how high Jedrzejczyk can fly.

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Stipe Miocic, the UFC’s Unlikeliest Champ, Nears Heavyweight History

The baddest man on the planet is an American everyman, a Rust Belt resident, part-time firefighter and soft-spoken gentleman who fights out of a town named “Independence.”
The baddest man on the planet arrived as a complete surprise. A collegiate baseb…

The baddest man on the planet is an American everyman, a Rust Belt resident, part-time firefighter and soft-spoken gentleman who fights out of a town named “Independence.”

The baddest man on the planet arrived as a complete surprise. A collegiate baseball player who had major league dreams, Stipe Miocic would not have been anyone’s pick to become an all-time heavyweight great when he made his MMA debut at age 27.

Yet, seven years later, here we are with Miocic on the cusp of history. After Saturday night’s first-round starching of ex-champion Junior Dos Santos at UFC 211 in Dallas, he has defended the UFC heavyweight championship twice.

That may not seem like much, but if he is able to do it just one more time, he will stand alone with the most heavyweight title defenses in promotional history.

Saturday night’s work was shockingly simple. Dos Santos has been beaten before, even finished before, but never so decisively. All it took was a Miocic right hand behind the ear and a few cursory piston-like left hands on the mat, and that was that. It took all of two minutes, 22 seconds, far different from their first go-around, which took the entire 25-minute allotment of time.

Between then and now, the growth pattern and learning curve have slanted strongly in Miocic’s favor. There were lessons to be learned, and they were absorbed, drilled and enacted Saturday.

His hands have gotten faster and more accurate. He’s better able to pace himself. His confidence has increased to the point that after the win, he even allowed himself a rare though modest boast.

“I am the best in the world,” he told UFC analyst Joe Rogan moments after the win. “I’m the heavyweight champ.”

Rogan followed up by asking what the best in the world wanted to do next. What kind of challenge was upcoming?

“Right now, it’s my kitchen,” Miocic said. “I have to remodel my kitchen when I get home, so that’s what I’m worried about right now.”

Thinking about the kitchen? This is the baddest man on the planet?

He is, and he’s both endearing and unexpected.

When he last fought Dos Santos, it could well have been the end of his arc. He completed only one of his 18 takedown attempts, per FightMetric, a woeful output that doomed his offensive attack and allowed Dos Santos to let his hands go free.

Still, getting to the finish line with the longtime divisional No. 2 imbued Miocic with the understanding that he could hang with and eventually surpass the weight class’ elite.

Five fights and five knockouts later, he’s proved that.

Dos Santos went from teacher to stepping stone, so quickly was he surpassed.

Now, it’s onward and upward as the target on Miocic’s back grows larger.

The UFC heavyweight championship has historically been won and lost with a quickness, a hot potato of a belt that has never quite settled in around anyone’s waist. The division has been around for 20 years, yet no one has managed to defend it more than twice in a row. Randy Couture, Tim Sylvia, Cain Velasquez, Brock Lesnar; they’ve all been borrowers more than owners.

The inability to hold on to the strap largely comes due to circumstances and physics. The former is the more unpredictable of the two. Frank Mir, for example, never even got to attempt a defense after a horrific motorcycle crash that nearly killed him. Lesnar suffered a bout with diverticulitis that cost him 12 inches of his colon and roughly a half year of his career. The latter is more simple; you get two 250-pound men in a cage, and the first clean punch might end it.

Miocic isn’t a technical marvel on the level of a Joanna Jedrzejczyk—who also successfully defended her belt at UFC 211—but he boasts a combination of power and ruggedness that serve as a nearly unshakeable base.

On Saturday, Dos Santos tried to rattle the champ by slamming kicks into the champ’s legs. Miocic endured a few and showed a brief flash of pain, but it only seemed to anger him, causing him to come forward and attack.

Dos Santos has shown a propensity to drop his hands and square himself up as he nears the fence, a doubly dangerous proposition that has cost him in past losses. It’s a mistake he repeated Saturday, and Miocic and his team were well-prepared. When the challenger backed himself to the perimeter, Miocic breached the distance. His first right hand grazed Dos Santos. The second landed square behind the ear and sent Dos Santos crashing to the mat.

It would be foolish to suggest Miocic is unbeatable, or even that his reign will last a while. The division has been filled with landmines through the years, and Cain Velasquez may show up any day and lay claim to the belt one more time. Anything is possible, and that is what has made it both fun and maddening.

Miocic is only proof of that. An everyman with a side gig shouldn’t be the world heavyweight champion. The sport is just too complex, too layered. Yet here we are. Here he is.

Stipe Miocic is the heavyweight king, and after he finishes his kitchen, his next challenge is history.

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UFC 211 Results: Stipe Miocic, Joanna Jedrzejczyk Win Main Event Fights

Stipe Miocic used UFC 211 to quickly put himself in a position to become the best heavyweight champion in UFC history.
Taking on Junior Dos Santos in a rematch of their instant classic in 2014, Miocic confirmed that he’s the best heavyweight in the wor…

Stipe Miocic used UFC 211 to quickly put himself in a position to become the best heavyweight champion in UFC history.

Taking on Junior Dos Santos in a rematch of their instant classic in 2014, Miocic confirmed that he’s the best heavyweight in the world.

JDS landed some leg kicks in the early going, but that’s where the positives end for the Brazilian challenger. Miocic backed him down early and often and landed overhand rights at will. That’s not a recipe for sticking around long with the champion.

The UFC passed along the right that ultimately ended the fight:

Given Dos Santos’ technical performance against Ben Rothwell last time out, this was an unexpected showing of regression. Andreas Hale of Champions MMA noted the tendency for JDS that ultimately ended his night:

With five straight knockout victories over some of the best in the division, the question remains as to who is next for the champion. Jason Floyd of the MMA Report took his best crack at the conundrum:

Either way, it’s clear that Miocic is the best heavyweight in the sport right now. He’ll have a huge opportunity in his next fight as he looks to become the first heavyweight champion to defend his belt three times consecutively.

The impressive knockout from Miocic was just the icing on a very violent cake that was UFC 211. This card didn’t fail to deliver on the hype as Joanna Jedrzejczyk also defended her title in brutal fashion.

Here’s a look at the quick results along with a breakdown of each of the main card fights.

UFC 211 Main Card

Stipe Miocic def. Junior Dos Santos, TKO (Round 1, 2:22)
Joanna Jędrzejczyk def. Jessica Andrade, unanimous decision (50-45, 50-46, 50-45)
Demian Maia def. Jorge Masvidal, split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Frankie Edgar def. Yair Rodriguez, TKO (Round 2, 5:00)
David Branch def. Krzysztof Jotko, split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

Prelims on FX

Eddie Alvarez vs. Dustin Poirier, no contest (Accidental Foul – Round 2, 4:12)
Jason Knight def. Chas Skelly, TKO (Round 3, 0:39)
Chase Sherman def. Rashad Coulter, TKO (Round 2, 3:36)
James Vick def. Marco Polo Reyes, TKO (Round 1, 2:39)

Prelims on UFC Fight Pass

Cortney Casey def. Jessica Aguilar, unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Enrique Barzola def. Gabriel Benitez, unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Gadzhimurad Antigulov def. Joachim Christensen, submission (Round 1, 2:21)

Joanna Jedrzejczyk vs. Jessica Andrade

There’s Joanna Jedrzejczyk then everyone else in the women’s strawweight division. That’s the takeaway after watching Joanna Champion defend her belt for the fifth time.

On paper, Andrade looked like the ideal fighter to give Jedrzejczyk problems. She had experience fighting at 135 pounds, power and a strong ground game with the threat of submissions.

None of that mattered.

Jedrzejczyk simply put on a masterclass in the art of stick and move. The more Andrade charged at the champion with looping hooks and takedown attempts, the more Joanna Champion tagged her with head kicks and jabs.

The result was a five-round decision that felt more like a 25-minute beatdown for the champion.

After the bout, the champion summed up the state of the division quite well, per UFC on Fox:

Andrade should be given credit for her toughness. She kept coming despite diminishing returns for her labor. Sometimes a contender just runs into a transcendent champion, and that’s exactly what happened in this fight.

At 25 years old, Andrade will probably continue to lurk in the division, and it wouldn’t be shocking to see this fight happen again.

Then again, she’d have to make some extreme improvements to have a shot against the champion in a rematch.

Jorge Masvidal vs. Demian Maia

Jorge Masvidal grappled with Demian Maia and managed to survive all three rounds, but he couldn’t do enough to convince the judges that he won the fight. Maia controlled all three rounds on the ground en route to a split-decision victory.

Masvidal put in a great showing. He started off guns blazing and appeared to have the Brazilian in trouble early on, but Maia did what Maia always does—he got the fight to the mat and resumed grappling excellence.

In all three rounds, Maia took the back of Gamebred. The impressive part for Masvidal was being able to avoid being submitted in all that time on the ground and even doing some damage of his own at times.

For Maia, the win pushes his winning streak to seven. According to Damon Martin of Fox Sports, the win locked up a title shot for Maia in his next fight:

The title shot is a long time coming for Maia. His fighting style isn’t for everyone, but he’s been effective at imposing his will since moving to the welterweight division.

Tyron Woodley will be a difficult matchup for the challenger, though. Masvidal’s quickness on the feet had Maia in trouble at times, and Woodley is one of the most explosive fighters in the sport.

This sets up an interesting fight pitting Maia’s jiu-jitsu against Woodley’s wrestling and power.

Yair Rodriguez vs. Frankie Edgar

Yair Rodriguez wasn’t ready.

It didn’t take long for that to become apparent to anyone watching the 24-year-old take on Frankie Edgar.

Rodriguez took a big step toward becoming a well-known commodity in his last bout when he beat up an old BJ Penn in a main event, but Edgar showed he has much more to give in the cage than the antiquated Penn.

Edgar quickly took Rodriguez down and went to work on rearranging his opponent’s face on the ground. The result was a badly swollen eye and a cut that kept the cutman working throughout the break between rounds.

The second round didn’t look much different. The UFC passed along the epic slam from The Answer:

From there Rodriguez flailed in desperation for submissions but had no answer for the problems that Edgar gave him. The former champion continued to blast away with punches and elbows at the swelled-up eye.

When the doctor had a chance to look at it between rounds, that was it.

As Patrick Wyman of the Washington Post noted, this was the kind of loss that should force Rodriguez to evaluate where he is as a fighter:

For Edgar, this was a clear indication that he should be in line for a title shot soon. This is his second TKO win over a top-10 opponent since losing to Jose Aldo at UFC 200.

David Branch vs. Krzysztof Jotko

No. 9 middleweight Krzysztof Jotko welcomed David Branch back to the UFC for the first time since 2011 to kick off the main card in a fight that was forgotten almost as soon as it ended.

With a five-fight winning streak coming in, the 27-year-old Jotko is one of few middleweight prospects, but he became victim to Branch’s smothering wrestling. Branch was released by the UFC in 2011 after establishing a reputation for being a dull fighter.

He didn’t do much to change that perception against Jotko. He effectively closed the distance, avoided damage and stifled Jotko’s offense, but he didn’t do much to cause damage himself.

The crowd was sure to let Branch know their displeasure, but as Connor Ruebusch of Bloody Elbow noted, it was Jotko that allowed Branch to get great position in the clinch consistently.

This fight probably did more to damage Jotko’s rise than it did to say anything about Branch. The veteran’s successful comeback gives him 11 straight victories that included two championship belts in World Series of Fighting, but there’s not much he did to make fans believe he can become a factor in the UFC heavyweight division.

As for Jotko, this was a classic case of a dynamic striker getting outpointed by a wrestler. He can complain about Branch’s approach, but ultimately he has to figure out how to create space to do damage.

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UFC Fighter Turns Loss into a Win by Proposing in the Cage at UFC 211

Jessica Andrade took a tough loss at UFC 211 in Dallas. The Brazilian strawweight struggled to get in any kind of offense against steely champ Joanna Jedrzejczyk and was sent to the back of the contendership line courtesy of a unanimous-decision l…

Why?

During her post-fight interview, Andrade took the opportunity to (metaphorically) drop to a knee and propose to her girlfriend. Check out the video here (starting at 2:30):

And she said yes!

Andrade may have watched Jedrzejczyk walk out of the Octagon with the belt, but she ultimately got a big win. Here’s to the happy couple!

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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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