Two weeks after Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko conjured a memorable night that added to the rich history of boxing’s heavyweight division, mixed martial arts is set to showcase its heavyweight best.
Saturday night in Dallas, UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic attempts to defend his belt for the second time in a dangerous rematch with Brazilian former champion Junior dos Santos.
As title fights go, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with the contest between Miocic and Dos Santos even if it hasn’t generated nearly the same excitement that sold so many tickets to Wembley Stadium for Joshua-Klitschko.
In front of 90,000 enthusiastic supporters the two Europeans fought for a title that once meant more than any of the rest: Heavyweight champion of the world. That man was the baddest.
Joshua and Klitschko competed at a high level with aggression and delivered. Each was heartily tested during a wildly fun fight that made heavyweights seem important again. For the first time in a while a heavyweight championship contest not only came across as necessary to watch – nothing like parts of the last century when boxing was culturally significant around the globe and was among the first sports to be regularly broadcast on television – it was lifted by what the heavyweights brought.
The spectacle of seeing large, skilled fighters duke it out remains one of the best experiences in all of sports. Even if boxing isn’t what it once was and even if the reputation of the titleholder isn’t either, Joshua, having stopped Klitschko in the 11th round, stands as the young lion in charge. That’s extremely exciting while a set of chest-thumping challengers emerge to take on a powerful and athletic man who still has much to learn as a fighter.
Boxing is set up for big things with Joshua at the helm, which has some calling him the first billion-dollar fighter. The UFC, and more broadly mixed martial arts, would love this experience.
Thus far nearly every heavyweight in the history of MMA not named Fedor Emelianenko has swirled in the parity. That’s especially true of the men who bounced around the octagon. To this end, a heavyweight champion in the UFC has never defended the belt more than twice. Fighters who looked capable of making a run have not.
When people analyze Miocic, the hard-punching firefighter from Cleveland, they’re conditioned to see a dead man walking. That’s not a statement about the 34-year-old boxer-wrestler. Miocic has been one of the best fighters in the UFC for the last two years. Three straight first-round knockouts is unmatched among the rest of the roster, and Miocic, an accurate striker who moves very well on his feet for a heavyweight, is usually exciting to watch. Still that hasn’t sold many UFC watchers from speaking about Miocic, who has been hittable throughout his career, as someone who can’t last atop the heavyweight class of the UFC, even if he has all the ingredients.
For a time fans placed their hopes in the Brazilian Dos Santos that he was the man to rule the heavyweight class for a longer term than anyone else. He was heavy-handed, athletic and like Miocic won the title and defended. Then he ran into Cain Velasquez. The parity train came back around after he alternated wins and losses the past four years.
Dos Santos and Miocic each racked up enormous damage in their first contest at the end of 2014, which ended in a split decision after 25 minutes. Following a dominating contest against Ben Rothwell in April, Dos Santos seems to have cleaned up his game. He moved better than he had in some time and unleashed a torrent of strikes, including 91 to Rothwell’s body. Clearly Miocic moves better than Rothwell and won’t take the same kind of damage without returning in kind, but Dos Santos has scored the most knockdowns of any heavyweight in the UFC (12) and that makes the main event of UFC 211 at the American Airlines Center the kind of a fight where anything can happen.
This is what occurs when giant men sling around 4oz gloves. This temptation, however, hasn’t been enough to sell UFC 211 on its own. In the best card of the year thus far for the UFC, the event features a deep and significant selection of fights.
In contrast to the topsy-turvy heavyweights, the night’s co-main event features the best female fighter on the planet at 115lbs. Poland’s Joanna Jędrzejczyk seeks her fifth defense of the title as she takes on Brazilian challenger Jessica Andrade. Over her last five contests, the Pole sniper has out-landed her opponents 746-245.
Joanna Champion, as fans like to call the angry 29-year-old technician, rips opponents apart. She has a tendency to start slow and pick up steam through the middle and championship rounds. Long jabs, tricky elbows … everything JJ throws is intended to inflict some sort of toll on her opponent. It works. Jędrzejczyk is 13-0 and the former Muay Thai kickboxing world champion has shown improvement as a mixed martial artist with each contest.
Andrade is a solid challenger but she appears unlikely to give Jędrzejczyk much of a challenge over the course of five treacherous rounds.
Rounding out the pay-per-view portion, welterweights Demian Maia and Jorge Masvidal meet in an intriguing contest that could determine the next challenger for Tyron Woodley at 170lbs. Former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar makes a stiff test for young and exciting Mexican Yair Rodriguez. And a late addition to the pay-per-view following an injury to flyweight Henry Cejudo, middleweights Krzysztof Jotko meets returning UFC fighter Dave Branch.
