How I fared in my UFC 211 picks

I'm happy to report that I was right in my picks of the two championship bouts on tonight's UFC PPV event. I chose both champs to win, and they did.

I said that heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic would beat challenger Junior dos Santos by TKO, and indeed Miocic did just that. I was also right to note that it would come before the end of the third round, but I was off in my belief that the fight might go as long as three rounds. Instead, Miocic polished off dos Santos in brutal fashion mid-way through the first round.

Strawweight belt-holder Joanna Jedrzejczyk dominated challenger Jessica Andrade for all five rounds of their bout and emerged with the decision victory, as I predicted. Andrade deserves a ton of credit, though, for taking a huge number of hits and never slowing down, never giving up, and even hurting the champ in the first round. Andrade is tough as nails. For now, though, Jedrzejczyk is untouchable in her division and really ought to be ranked second on the pound-for-pound charts (behind men's flyweight champ Demetrious Johnson).

For the next big UFC event, I might take more risks and call more fights, but I'm definitely happy with tonight's results.

Calling tomorrow night's two main UFC fights

Tomorrow night, UFC 211 will feature two championship matches:  heavyweight champ Stipe Miocic vs. challenger Junior dos Santos, and women's flyweight champ Joanna Jedrzejczyk vs. challenger Jessica Andrade. I'm looking forward to watching both fights, but I'm going on record now with my prediction: the current champs will come home with their belts.

Miocic is quicker, in better condition, and more powerful than dos Santos. Unless dos Santos gets lucky early, which could always happen, Miocic is going to hit him until he drops him. Miocic will earn the victory, and probably by TKO before the end of the third round.

Jedrzejczyk is a buzz-saw of a champion with a significant reach advantage over Andrade. Andrade is definitely tough, and Jedrzejczyk has plenty of holes in her game, but so far no one has really taken advantage of them. This one is likely to go the distance, but one way or another, Jedrzejczyk's hands will go up in the end.

I'll let you know after the fights how I did.