It was a rematch nearly three years in the making, as heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic looked to avenge his last loss against Junior Dos Santos on Saturday night in Dallas, Texas.
In their first fight, Miocic came up short on the judges' scorecards after a grueling, five-round war with Dos Santos in arguably one of the greatest heavyweight fights of all-time. That fight not only served as notice that Miocic could hang with the best of the best in the division, but it gave him the confidence that he could storm through the rematch while attempting to successfully defend his title for the second time.
That's exactly what Miocic did, as he walked Dos Santos across the Octagon, looking for the shot that would bring the title back home to Cleveland with him. With Dos Santos pinned up against the cage, Miocic unleashed hell with a crushing right hand that blasted the former champion behind the ear.
Dos Santos fell face first into the mat as Miocic followed up with a few more punches until the referee saw enough to stop the contest. Miocic defended his title, avenged his last loss and did it all in under one round.
Fantasy players definitely had their eyes on Miocic going into Saturday night, with 66 percent picking the Cleveland native to get the victory and an overwhelming majority of 86 percent selecting him to earn his fifth straight win by knockout. That's exactly what Miocic did.
In the co-main event, odds makers had faith that Jessica Andrade was going to be Joanna Jedrzejczyk's toughest challenge to date, with the champion favored by the smallest margin in any of her fights as the queen of the strawweight division. Fantasy players weren't quite as sold on how close this fight was supposed to be, with 69 percent picking Jedrzejczyk to earn the victory, which is exactly what she did in a lopsided rout over Andrade.
Much like the Miocic fight, savvy fantasy players pegged Jedrzejczyk getting the win by decision after 83 percent said she would get the job done by decision at UFC 211.
While the champions enjoyed bigger odds in their favor on Saturday night, the welterweight fight between Demian Maia and Jorge Masvidal was a much closer affair. In fact, the odds were so close that the matchup came along with an extra 120-point bonus. The picks on this fight went back and forth in the weeks leading up to the event, with Maia and Masvidal both being listed as the favorite by fantasy players.
By fight night, Masvidal was a very slight favorite, with 54 percent picking him to win, but Maia got the job done earning a split decision victory and a minor upset.
There was a ton of hype surrounding rising featherweight star Yair Rodriguez going into UFC 211, but fantasy players weren't ready to give up on former lightweight champion Frankie Edgar just yet. Edgar was selected by 55 percent of fantasy players and he got the job done in a big way as he hammered Rodriguez on the ground until the fight was stopped after the second round upon advice of the ringside physician.
In another ultra tight matchup that earned fantasy players a 120-point bonus, David Branch eked out a victory over Krzysztof Jotko after a three-round battle in the middleweight division. Jotko entered the fight as a very slight favorite, with 54 percent picking him to win, but Branch did enough over 15 minutes to earn the victory.
Two more favorites on the card got the job done as James Vick earned his seventh UFC win in eight tries as he took out former Ultimate Fighter Latin America competitor Marco Polo Reyes, while Chase Sherman enjoyed a very slight edge over newcomer Rashad Coulter in an absolute war that earned Fight of the Night honors on the most stacked card of the year.
As far as upsets go, Cortney Casey got back in the win column after she was selected by just 41 percent of fantasy players for her fight against American Top Team strawweight Jessica Aguilar.
By the end of the card, eight favorites earned victories, with four upsets taking place.
Fans voices come first
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