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justyouraveragepole-blog · 7 years

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Joanna "Champion" Jedrzejczyk vs Jessica Andrade UFC 211 Recap

This was a very interesting fight. I was really impressed with both fighters. Let's start with the challenger. Jessica Andrade was easily Joanna's toughest opponent in my opinion. She just kept coming forward with no hesitation, no matter what was coming her way. She was getting caught with lightning punches and kicks all fight long, but kept advancing. As far as skills go, I'm afraid to say she just did not belong in the same octagon as the champion. Her body shape was too squared, her punches were too slow and wild, and her rare kicks were almost useless against a top fighter. One thing she certainly does have though, is a ridiculous amount of strength for the 115lb weight-class. She must cut a lot of weight to make it. I'm guessing she gets tested just like everyone else, but her build simply does not look natural (although I would love to be wrong on that). She picked up and threw Joanna to the floor quite easily a few times, but just could not keep her down, JJ kept jumping up like a spring. I think Andrade can get far with her toughness, but she definitely needs to put in a lot of hard work on her skills, because all she can do against top-level opposition is press forward and hope for a big shot to land. That's just not good enough to leave behind a noteworthy legacy. As for champion, I'm not even sure where to start. What an athlete! She is a great role-model for not only young women, but young people in general. She has possibly the greatest attitude in top-level combat sports. She works like a challenger at all times, never settles down and just keeps learning. She is humble, but confident. She rejects many people's claims that she is the best pound-for-pound fighter in MMA, which I can't imagine many other fighters doing. Most would say "Oh I know I'm the best!" but not her. Her striking is a beautiful sight. So fast, so crisp, perfect in terms of technique. Her movement is top drawer. She comes in with such a strong plan, but can adapt to what her opponents bring to the fight. In this fight, Joanna caught a few very strong punches at the very start of the first round, which left her with a big welp on the forehead. She adjusted very quickly though, and started landing big leg-kicks. This slowed the progress of Andrade. She was no longer able to land those wide-swinging punches. Joanna was in control from then on. I saw many people on the internet complaining about Joanna, saying she was "running" from Andrade. To those people I say learn a thing or two about the sport of MMA before you comment. MMA is not a street fight on World Star. Movement and not being hit is a massive part of combat sports, it's not all about standing and swinging. Take a look at the stats and you'll see that Joanna landed around three times the amount of punches Andrade did in every single round. This fight was a surgery performed by the Polish champion.

#UFC #UFC211 #Joanna #Jedrzejczyk #Champion #Jessica Andrade #Fighting #Combat Sports #Winner #Recap

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writingsubmissions · 7 years

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Fights to Make: UFC 211

Stipe Miocic (beat Junior dos Santos) vs. Cain Velasquez: It’s weird to think of Miocic as an all-time great heavyweight, but he’s surprisingly close to that level of accomplishment - his knockout win over dos Santos makes four straight first round knockouts, and one more title defense will give him the all-time consecutive record at heavyweight at three. Admittedly, it’s a historically unstable division, but still, history is history. Anyway, the obvious top contender for Miocic would be Velasquez, the consensus top heavyweight of this era, if Velasquez is ever healthy - past that, I guess go with Derrick Lewis if he beats Mark Hunt? Or Francis Ngannou? Options are thin.

Joanna Jedrzejczyk (beat Jessica Andrade) vs. Rose Namajunas: Unlike Miocic, Jedrzejczyk’s greatness just stares you in the face, and this might have been her most masterful performance yet - faced with her most difficult style matchup to date, Jedrzejczyk tweaked her striking style and executed it perfectly, forcing Andrade to chase her and pitching a shutout on the scorecards. There’s really no challengers left for Jedrzejczyk, who’s approaching Demetrious Johnson levels of dominance within her division, but Namajunas is the obvious next contender up as far as people Joanna Champion hasn’t beaten yet - though I don’t see that fight going particularly well for her.

Demian Maia (beat Jorge Masvidal) vs. Tyron Woodley: This was Maia’s toughest test yet, but once again the Brazilian’s jiu-jitsu ruled over all, controlling Masvidal for most of the fight and winning a narrow decision that could’ve gone either way, depending on whether you value control or damage. Maia’s now the unquestioned next challenger for Woodley’s welterweight strap, and I’m happy he’s earned it - even though I fear Woodley’s tendency to play things defensively could make it an ugly, ugly contest.

Frankie Edgar (beat Yair Rodriguez) vs. Jose Aldo/Max Holloway (Jun. 3) winner: I thought Edgar was too much, too soon for uber-prospect Rodriguez, but Rodriguez didn’t even acquit himself well, as Edgar just basically took him down and beat the piss out of him until his eye swelled so badly that the fight had to be stopped. Edgar’s the obvious number two or number three guy in the division behind Aldo and Holloway, who square off in the main event of UFC 212 - if Holloway wins the title, Edgar’s the obvious next contender, and even if Aldo retains, Edgar might still be the next contender, even though Aldo beat Edgar pretty one-sidedly just last year; the only guys in the top fifteen coming off a win that Aldo hasn’t beaten are Brian Ortega, Renato Moicano, and Darren Elkins.

Junior dos Santos (lost to Stipe Miocic) vs. Andrei Arlovski/Marcin Tybura (Jun. 17) winner: Well, that was a mixed bag for dos Santos - his strategy focused around leg kicks worked wonders early, but that only seemingly forced Miocic to take things into high gear, and he rushed and finished dos Santos after just two and a half minutes. There’s not an obvious next fight for JDS - everything seems to be either a rehashed fight or would serve for the former champ to knock off a potential contender, of which there are precious few at heavyweight - so let’s go with the winner of fading vet Arlovski and Polish prospect Tybura in Singapore in a few weeks. Dos Santos probably blows through either guy, but hey, at least it’s a keep-busy fight that doesn’t damage options in the division too much.

Jorge Masvidal (lost to Demian Maia) vs. Rafael dos Anjos/Tarec Saffiedine (Jun. 17) winner: This was yet another frustrating affair for Masvidal - his individual skills remain excellent, and he did quite well defending himself against Maia here, but as always, he seemingly made just enough mistakes to lose a narrow decision. But he at least proved he finally belongs among the divisional elite, and he’s a fresh matchup for a lot of top contenders, so I’d keep him strong. Rafael dos Anjos debuts at welterweight in Singapore next month, and if the former lightweight champ looks good against Tarec Saffiedine, I like Masvidal as a next test to either see if RDA can become a contender in his new weight class, or for Masvidal to get a big name win. And, hell, if Saffiedine scores the upset, he’s earned a shot at someone like Masvidal.

Eddie Alvarez (no contest against Dustin Poirier) vs. Dustin Poirier (no contest against Eddie Alvarez): Alvarez probably should’ve lost this fight by DQ, as inconsistent rules among states have made the whole “downed opponent” scenario a complete mess, but hey, a no contest means we have an excuse for these guys to face each other again. This was fight was awesome - run it back!

Jessica Andrade (lost to Joanna Jedrzejczyk) vs. Carla Esparza/Maryna Moroz (Jun. 25) winner: Andrade got outclassed by the champion, but there’s still a lot to like - she’s young, and she’s still a relative newcomer in the division, so there’s still a bunch of interesting fights on the horizon for her. I like her against Esparza or Moroz, depending on who wins in Oklahoma City next month - Esparza as a former champ who can test if Andrade is in fact among the divisional elite, or Moroz for a matchup between physical talents that was initially supposed to take place in December.

Yair Rodriguez (lost to Frankie Edgar) vs. Chas Skelly (lost to Jason Knight): Well, Rodriguez got smashed by Edgar, and that didn’t really accomplish anything - while UFC’s top Mexican prospect will be fine in the long run, there wasn’t anything here that anyone in Rodriguez’s camp could really take as a positive sign. So it’s probably back to beating fringe top-fifteen guys for the time being, as “El Pantera” can work out the kinks in his game. This is probably doing Skelly a bit dirty - I like his wrestling as a test for Rodriguez, but Rodriguez’s physical tools probably mean this fight would look a lot like Skelly’s loss to Knight, where Skelly can’t control his opponent and then subsequently gets wrecked. But ideally, I’d want someone who’s like Darren Elkins, but a bit worse so I’m confident Rodriguez can actually beat them, and Skelly’s the closest thing to that bill.

David Branch (beat Krzysztof Jotko) vs. Derek Brunson/Daniel Kelly (Jun. 10) winner: The good news is that Branch got a huge win in his UFC return, as the former two-division WSOF champ beat a top-ten middleweight. The bad news is that the fight was pretty bad - I didn’t hate it as much as everyone else seemed to, but I also figured it would be a way more boring fight going in, and was relieved that it was just, well, bad. So it’s probably another fringy top ten guy for Branch - let’s go with the winner of the Brunson/Kelly fight in Auckland next month; it’d be interesting to see how Branch handles someone who can go all-out berserker in Brunson, or if Kelly manages to win, it’d be another step up for the Australian in one of UFC’s unlikeliest success stories.

Jason Knight (beat Chas Skelly) vs. Brian Ortega: Knight is getting really good, really quickly - he had a bit of early trouble with Skelly’s wrestling, but really got to show off his excellent grappling game here, preventing a hard-nosed wrestler from controlling him while showing off the volume striking game he’s quickly becoming known for. Brian Ortega’s apparently recovering from a massive injury, but if he’s healthy anytime soon, that’d be an excellent scrap, particularly if we got some insane grappling exchanges out of the deal. And if Ortega’s still hurt, then if Cub Swanson’s free during the next cycle of featherweight fights...just saying.

Cortney Casey (beat Jessica Aguilar) vs. Paige VanZant: I don’t think Casey will ever get to championship contender status, but her game is evolving nicely - here she showed some impressive work from her back en route to physically outclassing Aguilar, who’s looking like the division has sort of passed her by. I have no idea how to peg VanZant - she’s a physically talented prospect who isn’t anywhere as overrated as people like to pretend she is, but the way she lost to Michelle Waterson so easily is still extremely worrying - but Casey’d make for a fun next test to see exactly where VanZant stands.

James Vick (beat Polo Reyes) vs. Joe Lauzon: It looked for a second UFC might book James Vick normally after he beat Abel Trujillo, but here we was once again, outclassing a prospect to achieve pretty much nothing. He’s asked for some promotion and a ranked opponent, and while he’s not a top fifteen guy anymore, Joe Lauzon’s still one of the most reliably entertaining names in the promotion, so a fight with Vick would be super-fun and give the Texan some shine.

Krzysztof Jotko (lost to David Branch) vs. Elias Theodorou/Brad Tavares (Jul. 7) winner: Jotko’s fights are pretty much always ugly, and this time around he didn’t do enough to make things worth it. Blah. Anyway, Jotko’s still a top ten or so guy in the division, so he’d make a nice opponent for either Theodorou or Tavares, who square off on the upcoming TUF finale. Jotko/Theodorou would be a nice way for Theodorou, who’s a charismatic and marketable guy, to hopefully finally crack the rankings, while Jotko/Tavares would just serve as a way to keep two talented middleweights who really aren’t all that interesting busy.

Gadzhimurad Antigulov (beat Joachim Christensen) vs. Ion Cutelaba/Henrique da Silva (Jun. 10) winner: Antigulov pretty much ran through Christensen and might be the most underrated guy on the roster - he’s small for the division, and his game is fairly simple, just looking to take down and then overpower his opponents, but that alone can probably get him into the top fifteen in a thin division. You could rush him against a guy in the fringe of the rankings right away, and that’d be fun, but I’d rather go with the winner of the Cutelaba/da Silva fight in Auckland next month. Honestly, you could probably go with anyone at the level of, say, Gian Villante or worse.

Enrique Barzola (beat Gabriel Benitez) vs. Hacran Dias: This was a pretty great win for Barzola, as the Peruvian beat a pretty solid mid-level gatekeeper in Benitez and has pretty much already out-achieved all of his TUF: Latin America 2 castmates. Throwing him against Brazilian grinder and sometimes prospect-killer Dias is probably too much, too soon, but it’s a chance at a solid win and damned if I know what else to do with Dias.

Jessica Aguilar (lost to Cortney Casey) vs. Viviane Pereira/Jamie Moyle (Jun. 3) loser: Aguilar lost fairly handily here, and the former top strawweight in the world seems to be looking at a division that’s passed her by. Pereira and Moyle square off in a fun undercard bout at UFC 212, and if nothing else, Aguilar shouldn’t be at a sizable athleticism disadvantage against the loser, which is about as much as you can ask for to see where Aguilar’s at at this point.

Chase Sherman (beat Rashad Coulter) vs. Mark Godbeer/Justin Willis (Jul. 16) winner: It was good for Sherman to get a win to stick in the UFC, and the young Mississippian got some notoriety for being in such a crazy brawl to boot, but there’s still a ton of work to be done, as Sherman gassed badly and let a one-legged Coulter back into their fight. So as tantalizing as the ceiling is for Sherman, I’d just keep putting him against fellow lower-level heavyweights - either Godbeer or Willis, who square off on the Scotland card in July, would be a fine next fight.

Polo Reyes (lost to James Vick) vs. Felipe Silva: Reyes was probably destined to top out as a lower-level action lightweight, but UFC throwing him to James Vick sort of hurried that process up. Felipe Silva, who starched Shane Campbell in his UFC debut this past August, is a bit of an unknown, but would probably make for a fun undercard fight, and hell, that’s what Polo Reyes is for.

Gabriel Benitez (lost to Enrique Barzola) vs. Chris Gruetzemacher: Benitez is talented, and has all the makings of a Mexican cult favorite, but Barzola badly exposed his lack of takedown defense here. Gruetzemacher isn’t particularly dynamic, but he’s a solid wrestler, so he’d be a solid test to make sure that Benitez at least has enough to stick in the UFC.

Rashad Coulter (lost to Chase Sherman) vs. Dmitry Poberezhets: Coulter pretty much did all you could ask for - his leg got destroyed fairly early in the fight with Sherman, but he gutted through it and turned things into an awesome brawl that made both guys $50,000 richer. The lower reaches of heavyweight are pretty much a jumble of guys you could put against each other - what the heck, let’s go with Poberezhets, a talented Ukrainian who was supposed to debut on this card, but got hurt and replaced by Coulter.

Joachim Christensen (lost to Gadzhimurad Antigulov) vs. Jake Collier: Christensen got blown out here, and is the kind of guy who could either wash out of the UFC quickly or stick around until he retires depending on the matchmaking - he’s technically solid everywhere, but nearing 40 and not particularly athletic, he’s at a deficit against a bunch of opponents. Collier sort of walks the line, as an athletic guy who never really seems to have much of a gameplan, so that could make for a fun lower-level bout.

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