It took UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic less than half of a round to defeat challenger Junior dos Santos, the last man to hand him a loss, in the main event of this past weekend’s UFC 211 card in Dallas.

Employing an odd game plan that consisted of him putting his back against the cage, dos Santos looked out of his element and had little success against an improved Miocic.

The next challenger for Miocic is uncertain at this point. Options include former champion Cain Velasquez, who has fought only twice in the past three and a half years, or the winner of the UFC 213 matchup between Alistair Overeem and Fabricio Werdum, both of whom Miocic has already defeated. Two wild cards could also be in the mix – Derrick Lewis, should he get past Mark Hunt next month, and upstart Francis Ngannou, who is expected to fight this summer.

In the co-main event, strawweight champion Joanna Jędrzejczyk defeated Jessica Andrade in dominant fashion. Jędrzejczyk landed 225 strikes in victory – more strikes than Andrade had absorbed in her last seven combined fights.

Jędrzejczyk has landed a staggering 918 strikes in her last five fights and has emerged as one of the most dominant champions in UFC history.

Her next opponent is expected to be 24-year-old Rose Namajunas, who is coming off of an impressive win over Michelle Waterson.


Maia finally expected to be the next challenger for welterweight title

Welterweight Demian Maia won his seventh straight fight Saturday night and was told by UFC president Dana White that he is next in line for a title shot.

The 39-year-old Maia has been able to prolong his career and become an unlikely contender by utilizing a grappling-focused approach that has stifled his opponents’ strengths.

During his win streak, Maia has remarkably absorbed under 100 total strikes, including three fights where he absorbed two or less.

The only hiccup could be welterweight champion Tyron Woodley, who appeared on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour and said that he felt a matchup with Maia wasn’t very marketable. Woodley said that his preference would be to defend the title against either former champion Georges St-Pierre or the outspoken Nick Diaz.


St-Pierre’s comeback fight scrapped

White told Fox Sports Australia last week that the announced fight between UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping and St-Pierre would no longer be happening.

White said the organization was looking to line the fight up for July and that they were unwilling to have the division wait on hold until November, which is when St-Pierre is targeting his return.

After UFC 211, White told TSN that St-Pierre should start looking for fights at welterweight that interest him and doubts that St-Pierre is willing to fight most of the UFC’s middleweights.

St-Pierre told TSN’s Michael Landsberg that he is still hoping to fight Bisping. When asked about a potential super fight against Anderson Silva, St-Pierre felt that Silva’s stock was not high enough at the moment.


UFC women’s featherweight division picture to be clear soon

After winning the women’s featherweight championship in February, Germaine de Randamie has been missing in action.

Holly Holm posted on Facebook that she had heard de Randamie was planning on retiring and confirmed to TSN this past week that it was something that she had heard.

“I think we’re going to come out with something soon about that,” White said when asked by TSN about de Randamie’s status following UFC 211.

White also confirmed that Cyborg Santos would fight this summer and that both Megan Anderson and Cat Zingano were under consideration as her opponent.

If de Randamie does retire or relinquish the belt, it would indicate that Cyborg’s fight this summer would be for the featherweight championship.

The division has been stagnant, with the only fight to date being the inaugural championship fight between Holm and de Randamie.


UFC 211 bonuses and attendance

In a night stacked with incredible matchups, choosing the performance bonuses could not have been an easy task.

The Fight of the Night bonuses went to Chase Sherman and Rashad Coulter, who put on an incredible heavyweight fight where Coulter looked like he was on the verge of defeat on several occasions before finally getting stopped in the second round.

The Performance of the Night bonuses went to Miocic for his TKO victory over dos Santos and Jason Knight, who was impressive in his victory over Chas Skelly and looks like a future contender in the featherweight division.

Attendance for the event was 17,834 with a gate of $2,662,645, which were both the highest markers of 2017 for the organization.