Stipe Miocic didn’t waste much time avenging his most recent loss.
The UFC heavyweight champion, who dropped a December 2014 decision to Brazil’s Junior dos Santos, needed only 2:22 to knock out the former champion Saturday night in the main event of UFC 211 at Dallas’ American Airlines Center.
“I’m the best,” Miocic (17-2) said. “I’m the best in the world.”
Dos Santos (18-5) landed two flush leg kicks at the outset, one of which made Miocic’s left shin instantly swell. That may have been the impetus for Miocic to pick up the pace. He dropped dos Santos to the mat with a huge right hand to the head, then landed a series of left hands until the bout was waved off.
Miocic, of Cleveland, has won five in a row since the loss to dos Santos, all via KO or TKO. He also tied a divisional record with his second successful heavyweight title defense, joining Tim Sylvia, Randy Couture, Brock Lesnar, and Cain Velasquez.
Strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk (14-0) of Poland is now within one victory of a Ronda Rousey record.
Jedrzejcyzk scored a unanimous decision (50-45, 50-44, 50-45) over Brazil’s Jessica Andrade (16-6), using nasty kicks and one of the sport’s best jabs to slowly wear down her game-but-overmatched foe.
With the win, Jedrzejczyk, the second-longest current reigning champion in the UFC, has defended her 115-pound belt five times, putting her within one of the record set by Rousey, the former bantamweight champ.
“No one is taking this title belt away from me,” the champion said. “No one. Nobody.”
Brazil’s Demian Maia (25-6) earned the next shot at UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley with a tight split-decision victory over Miami’s Jorge Masvidal (32-12). In a battle of wills between Maia’s superlative jiu-jitsu and Masvidal’s striking game, Maia did just enough to earn the nod, taking two out of three 29-28 scores for his seventh consecutive victory.
A highly anticipated featherweight matchup turned into a rout. Former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar (22-5-1) of Toms River, New Jersey, had his way with Yair Rodriguez (10-2), an expected superstar in the making from Chihuahua, Mexico.
Edgar worked over Rodriguez on the mat for the better part of two whole rounds, leaving Rodriguez with his left eye swollen shut. The doctor waved off the fight between the second and third, giving Edgar a TKO victory, his second straight win and seventh in his past eight.
“They have to pump these young kids up, they’re the future, I get it,” Edgar said about his opponent. “But we need to pump the breaks on him.”
New York City’s David Branch (21-3) was victorious in his first UFC fight in six years. Branch, who had compiled a 12-1 record with 10 straight wins outside the company, earned a split decision over Poland’s Krzysztof Jotko (19-2) in a middleweight matchup.
While it wasn’t the most exciting fight, Branch significantly outstruck Jotko and landed three takedowns, which was enough to earn him the better end of two out of three 29-28 scores.
“It feels good to be back in the UFC, but I wasn’t satisfied with my performance,” Branch said. “I can do a whole lot better than that and I will.”
The featured preliminary bout was a barnburner, which ended in controversy. Former UFC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez (28-5, 1 NC) of Philadelphia, fighting for the first time since losing the belt to Conor McGregor in November, engaged with Louisiana’s Dustin Poirier (21-5, 1 NC) in a thrilling slugfest for the better part of two rounds.
But Alvarez hit Poirier with three illegal knees to the head late in the second round. After Poirier was deemed unfit to continue, the bout was ruled a no-contest, as the referee ruled the blows accidental, at the 4:12 mark.
“I hurt him with the first one, I think the second one may have been legal, but the third knee was illegal. I saw it on the prompter afterwards that it was illegal and I apologize to Dustin,” Alvarez said.
Cormier, Jones set to fight at UFC 214
The UFC booked a light heavyweight title fight between champion Daniel Cormier and Jon Jones for UFC 214 on July 29 at Honda Center in Anaheim, California.
The bout was announced during a Summer Kickoff news conference on Friday.
UFC president Dana White, who did not attend the news conference, said last November that he lost trust in Jones after multiple incidents and would never headline a show with him again.
“I think that’s still undetermined,” said the 29-year-old Jones, who is a former light heavyweight champion. “I don’t really see what would be a bigger fight over Daniel and I, but if Dana wants to stick to his guns and make me a co-main to prove a point — ultimately, I think he’ll end up losing more money doing that.
“Whether I’m co-main or main, Daniel’s getting his (expletive) whooped and the belt is coming home with me.”
Jones (22-1) is serving a one-year suspension for a failed drug test. He is eligible to return the first week of July.
Jones was stripped of his light heavyweight championship and suspended by UFC in 2015 after a hit-and-run in New Mexico. Before that, Jones beat Cormier (19-1) by unanimous decision to defend his title at UFC 182.
A rematch between the two was scheduled and scrapped twice, first after Cormier pulled out with a knee injury before UFC 197 last April and again at UFC 200 in July because of Jones’ failed drug test leading to his United States Anti-Doping Agency suspension.