UFC 211 takes place this weekend, Saturday May 13, at the American Airlines Centre in Dallas, Texas, USA, and presents one of the most exciting cards of the year including a double header of UFC world championship bouts. In recent weeks heavyweight boxing has found itself propelled back in to the spotlight, and at UFC 211, mixed martial arts will take center stage to showcase its own rousing heavyweight collision as world champion Stipe Miocic defends the UFC heavyweight crown against former champion and no.4 ranked contender Junior dos Santos. Following a narrow loss to dos Santos in 2014, Miocic has traveled the world over the past 2 years, first securing a TKO stoppage over granite chinned veteran Mark Hunt in Australia before establishing himself as the no.1 contender in Las Vegas with a first round knockout against the rejuvenated Andrei Arlovski. Miocic snatched the heavyweight crown in May of 2016 at UFC 198, sensationally knocking out the favoured champion, Fabricio Werdum, in Curitiba, Brazil. The ‘Croatian Sensation’ completed a first defense of the title last September, ending the impressive win streak of Dutchman Alistair Overeem, once again via a first round knockout. Miocic vs. dos Santos 2 takes place two-and-a-half years following their original UFC on Fox headliner in December of 2014. On that night it was the Brazilian, dos Santos, 33, who edged a Unanimous Decision victory in one of the mostly hotly contested battles of the year, but 34-year-old Miocic, hailing from Ohio, USA, now has the UFC heavyweight world title for himself boasting a succession of 4 knockout victories over the very best that the 265lb division has to offer. For the co-main event we jump to opposite side of the scale as Poland’s Joanna Jędrzejczyk (13-0) looks to defend the UFC Women’s strawweight championship for a fifth time, this time taking on powerful Brazilian Jessica Andrade (16-5). As one of the most entertaining fighters within the UFC roster ‘Joanna Champion’ has been nothing short of sensational in her dominant reign as queen of the 115lb strawweights. Since dispatching of former champion Carla Esparza in 2015, the 29-year-old has posted four successful title defences. Her destruction of Jessica Penne at UFC Fight Night in Berlin, Germany, will remain a highlight performance for years to come as Jędrzejczyk channeled a killer instinct and striking ferocity reminiscent of UFC Hall of Famer Chuck Liddell. The Muay Thai expert has since completed a trio of Unanimous Decision triumphs, showcasing her speed and kickboxing prowess on each occasion as she bested top contenders Valérie Létourneau, Cláudia Gadelha and Karolina Kowalkiewicz respectively. Meanwhile, no.3 ranked contender Jessica Andrade, 25, emerged to become the latest title challenger after dropping to 115lbs as a former standout of the 135lb bantamweight division. Since joining the strawweight ranks ‘Bate Estaca’ has remained undefeated, also knocking out Jessica Penne upon her arrival in the division before submitting no.7 ranked Scottish standout Joanne Claderwood with a first round guillotine choke and most recently besting Angela Hill via a Unanimous Decision. Also on the card, former middleweight title challenger Damian Maia (24-6) looks to take his welterweight win streak to seven victories and place himself in pole position for a 170lb title shot. After securing a pair of imposing submission wins over top contenders Matt Brown and Carlos Condit in his last two bouts, the Brazilian jiu jitsu icon takes on dangerous striker Jorge Masvidal (32-11), himself having most secured a pair of back-to-back TKO stoppages, the last being an upset triumph over perennial top contender Donald Cerrone. Completing the main, in featherweight action former Lightweight king Frankie Edgar (21-5-1) takes on 24-year-old up and comer Yair Rodriguez (10-1) and Krzysztof Jotko (19-1) welcomes former WSOF dual-weight champion Dave Branch (20-3) back to the UFC Octagon for the first time in six years. Standing out on the preliminary card will be former UFC lightweight chamion Eddie Alvarez (28-5), competing for the first time since losing his crown to Conor Mcgregor, he takes on Dustin Poirier (21-5) who’s coming off the back of a Fight of the Night majority decision win over Jim Miller. UFC 211 full card: Main Card Heavyweight Championships: Stipe Miocic (c) vs. Junior dos Santos Strawweight Championship: Joanna Jędrzejczyk (c) vs. Jéssica Andrade Welterweight: Demian Maia vs. Jorge Masvidal Featherweight: Frankie Edgar vs. Yair Rodríguez Middleweight: Krzysztof Jotko vs. Dave Branch Preliminary Card Lightweight: Eddie Alvarez vs. Dustin Poirier Featherweight: Chas Skelly vs. Jason Knight Featherweight: Jared Gordon vs. Michel Quinones Lightweight: Marco Polo Reyes vs. James Vick UFC Fight Pass Prelims Strawweight: Jessica Aguilar vs. Cortney Casey Heavyweight: Chase Sherman vs. Rashad Coulter Featherweight: Gabriel Benítez vs. Enrique Barzola Light Heavyweight: Joachim Christensen vs. Gadzhimurad Antigulov ]]>
UFC 211: Miocic vs. dos Santos 2 Preview
