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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.
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"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, N.J., 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.
