The biggest winners from UFC 237

It always feels special when the Octagon comes back to where it all started. The UFC 237 pay-per-view from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil was no exception.

The Brazilian fighters had a rough night in Rio at the Jeunesse Arena. Eight Brazilian fighters suffered losses over the weekend, but six Brazilians picked up wins. None were bigger than Jessica Andrade’s slam knockout of Rose Namajunas to become the new strawweight champion of the world.

“Bate Estaca” rose to the occasion over the weekend and in doing so helped herself out in a big way moving forward.

Let’s take a look at all of the biggest winners from the card.

The Biggest Winners from UFC 237

Image: @ufc on Instagram

Alexander Volkanovski

Alexander Volkanovski proved he deserves the moniker of “Great” once again over the weekend. He outclassed the consensus featherweight GOAT Jose Aldo for the entire 15 minutes of their fight, improving to 20-1 in the process.

With the news of Max Holloway defending his featherweight title against Frankie Edgar at UFC 240, it would only seem logical to have Volkanovski on stand by as a back up plan. After all Holloway vs Edgar has fallen through on two occasions previously. First, of course, the Australian will have to heal up from his current blood infection. 

Raoni Barcelos

Raoni Barcelos might just be the best bantamweight fighter on the UFC roster that nobody (outside of the most diehard fans) is aware of.

Barcelos improved his record to 14-1 with his second round KO of Carlos Huachin on Saturday night. The win makes it seven straight for Barcelos, who is starting to look like a serious dark horse at 135 pounds.

Image: @ufc on Instagram

Jessica Andrade

Andrade picked up the biggest win of her career at UFC 237 over the weekend and now she is the queen of the UFC strawweight division.

She entered the UFC as a bantamweight back in 2013. Six years later and 20 pounds lighter, and Andrade is the 115-pound champion of the world. She improved her overall record to 20-6 with the victory on Saturday evening.

Five of Andrade’s losses have come outside of her new weight class. The only loss on her record to a fellow 115-pound fighter is to the next women on this list.

Joanna Jedrzejczyk

That’s right, she may not have competed at UFC 237, but it would be hard to deny Joanna Jedrzejczyk’s newfound hope at recapturing her strawweight title.

Jedrzejczyk was not getting another title shot against Rose Namajunas anytime soon. She had already been beaten by her twice before. However, with Andrade wearing the strap things are looking up for “Joanna Champion” once again.

Which fighters do you think the most of their opportunities at UFC 237?

5/14/2019.