UFC News: Two New Main Events Announced

The UFC have announced two new main event fights for upcoming UFC Fight Night cards. It would not be surprising that one, if not both fights, could be considered as number-one contender bouts.

Jedrzedczyk vs Waterson

First announced was that former women’s strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzedczyk will headline the UFC Fight Night card on October 12 with top-contender Michelle Waterson. As of the time of writing, a venue has not yet been set for this card.

Joanna Jedrzedczyk, 31, is coming off a loss to Valentina Shevchenko that crowned the UFC’s first ever women’s flyweight champion. In fact, three of her last four fights were fought for titles. The former women’s strawweight champ, Jedrzedczyk dropped the title to Rose Namajunas at UFC 217 in November of 2017 via knockout. She was given the immediate rematch against Namajunas but lost a unanimous decision at UFC 223. Joanna bounced back, beating Tecia Torres via unanimous decision in July of 2018 before losing to Shevchenko at UFC 231 last November. She is ranked fourth by the UFC in both the flyweight and strawweight divisions.

”The Karate Hottie” Michelle Waterson, 33, is currently ranked seventh in the UFC strawweight division and has been strongly campaigning for a title shot after stringing together three big wins in a row. A win over Jedrzejczyk may be the final win needed to cement that shot at champion Jessica Andrade. Waterson has won three decision victories in a row, the most recent coming over past title-challenger Karolina Kowalkiewicz on March 30. She has also defeated Felice Herrig and Cortney Casey during her current winning streak.

It was believed that Jonna would not receive another title shot as long as Namajunas was champion but now that is no longer the case. Earlier this year, “Thug Rose” dropped the title to new champion Jessica Andrade. It is believed that should Joanna get past Waterson, she would fight for the title against Andrade as Joanna defeated Andrade in her last strawweight title defense in 2017 before losing to Namajunas.

Cannonier vs Hermansson

Shortly after, the UFC announced that they officially had a main event for their UFC Fight Night card in Copenhagen on September 28. Jared Cannonier and Jack Hermansson, both ranked within the top-5 of the UFC middleweight division, will go toe-to-toe in the main event live from Denmark.

Jared Cannonier, 35, in on a two-fight winning streak, coming off of possibly the biggest victory of his career. On May 11, at UFC 237, Cannonier fought and defeated UFC legend Anderson Silva via TKO. Prior to that, Cannonier defeated David Branch at UFC 230 also by TKO. That fight was Cannonier’s debut in the middleweight division. He had lost his last two in a row at light heavyweight. He is currently ranked ninth in the middleweight division.

”The Joker” Jack Hermansson, 31, is also coming off of the biggest victory of his career. Hermansson defeated top-5 middleweight and UFC legend Jacare Souza in the main event of their UFC Fight Night card on April 27. Hermansson stepped in last minute to replace a sick Yoel Romero and ended up scoring the unanimous decision upset victory over Jacare. The win bumped Hermansson from outside the top-10 in the division to being ranked number four.

Other UFC headlines

The UFC have parted ways with bantamweight fighter John Lineker. After ups and downs with the UFC, including calling out the organization publicly about not giving him enough fights, Lineker was given a co-main event bout for last months Fight Night card in Greenville. Unfortunately for Lineker, he suffered a facial laceration one day prior and had to pull out of the fight against Rob Font. He was also defeated in his last appearance, losing to Corey Sandhagen by split decision. He has a 12-4 record in the UFC and a 31-9 overall record in mixed martial arts.

The World MMA Awards took place last Wednesday night and UFC fighters were the stars. Women’s bantamweight and featherweight champion Amanda Nunes won the awards for knockout of the year and upset of the year – both for her win over Cris Cyborg at UFC 232. She also took home the award for Female Fighter of the Year. UFC heavyweight champion took home the awards for Male Fighter of the Year as well as analyst of the year. Interim middleweight champion Israel Adesanya won the Breakthrough Fighter of the Year award and the UFC 229 fight between lightweights Tony Ferguson and Anthony Pettis took home Fight of the Year. The UFC as a whole won for Best Promotion

UFC Fight Night: Ngannou vs dos Santos results:

Francis Ngannou def. Junior dos Santos via TKO (Round 1)

Joseph Benavidez def. Jussier Formiga via TKO (Round 2)

Demian Maia def. Anthony Rocco Martin via majority decision

Vinc Pichel def. Roosevelt Roberts via unanimous decision

Drew Dober def. Marco Rolo Reyes via TKO (Round 1)

Alonzo Menifield def. Paul Craig via KO (Round 1)