There’s an interesting twist for UFC Fight Night 211, as the event will be closed to the media and the public. Rumors have swirled around a possible booking of the entire event by Facebook / Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, but nothing has been confirmed. The event is set for the UFC APEX facility in Las Vegas, and the main event will pit Mackenzie Dern against Yan Xiaonan in a strawweight bout. The co-headliner is a welterweight showdown between Randy Brown and Francisco Trinaldo. You can watch the entire night’s fighting on ESPN+. Read on to find the complete fight card as well as our UFC betting predictions for the top two fights.
UFC Fight Night 211: Dern vs Yan Preview
Main Card (ESPN+)
- Mackenzie Dern vs Yan Xiaonan (Women’s Strawweight)
- Francisco Trinaldo vs Randy Brown (Welterweight)
- Raoni Barcelos vs Trevin Jones (Bantamweight)
- Sodiq Yusuff vs Don Shainis (Featherweight)
- John Castaneda vs Daniel Santos (Catchweight – 140 lbs)
- Mike Davis vs Viacheslav Borshchev (Lightweight)
Preliminary Card (ESPN+)
- Aleksei Oleinik vs Ilir Latifi (Heavyweight)
- Jessica Penne vs Tabatha Ricci (Women’s Strawweight)
- Joaquim Silva vs Jesse Ronson (Lightweight)
- Krzysztof Jotko vs Brendan Allen (Middleweight)
- Maxim Grishin vs Philipe Lins (Light Heavyweight)
- Julija Stoilarenko vs Chelsea Chandler (Catchweight – 140 lbs)
- Guido Cannetti vs Randy Costa (Bantamweight)
Mackenzie Dern (12-2, 7-2 UFC, -225) vs Yan Xionan (15-3, 6-2 UFC, +190) is Dern’s latest attempt to get into the strawweight title conversation. The question marks for her surround her offensive wrestling skills, which are still unfinished. So she can get the fight to the ground and has excellent grappling abilities, but once she’s there, getting to the win can be a challenge. She succeeded in 2021 with a big win over Nina Nunes, but we have also seen quite a few fights where things get to the mat and she pushes for a takedown, but the takedown does not come. Dern is also comfortable fighting in a messy brawl, though, and her grit, power and athleticism make her a real force if she blitzes the opposition with pressure, because her opponent knows that the grappling game is a defensive alternative. She got frustrated in a main event loss to Marina Rodriguez, as she looked flat because she waited too long to try and press an advantage. She pushed matters more against Tecia Torres and got a win on the cards, but that win was razor-close.
Yan came into UFC and just started winning, and when she beat Angela Hill in 2019, she got a reputation as a possible contender. She followed that up by dismantling Karolina Kowalkiewicz and beating Claudia Gadelha easily on the cards – both of those opponents former title challengers. When she lost to Carla Esparza in May 2021, though, things started to take on question marks. Esparza brought a wrestling challenge that was tougher than anything that Yan had previously faced, effectively taking away her striking game, and Yan ended up getting stopped in the second round. She did bounce back against Rodriguez in March, fighting hard but not getting the decision. Yan’s ability to stay at range should help her against Dern, and if Yan can keep the pace moving and keep the fight upright, then she has a chance to win. If Dern can take down Yan early, then she can start building the points for the win, if not finish early via submission.
Final Prediction: Yan wins via decision
Randy Brown (15-4, 9-4 UFC, -315) vs Francisco Trinaldo (28-8, 18-7 UFC, +260) is Brown’s chance to start climbing the ladder toward title contention. He had a bunch of physical potential when he joined UFC in 2015, and that brought him some easy wins while he took on the bottom of the roster. Now he has a reputation as a solid striker and a scary-good grappler. He had a breakout victory over Bryan Barberena in 2019, but that has been his only dominant performance. He likes to stay at range and keep things slow, but he has a hard time keeping his opponents away from him. Just about all of his fights have an episode in which the opponent can land damage and turn Brown’s strategy around. He has still been able to turn those fights into wins, but Trinaldo brings an opponent at a new skill level.
Trinaldo made a major adjustment to his approach in his mid-30s, adding a striking game that was heavy on counters, to go along with the strong grappling and wrestling he already had. He got slotted as a gatekeeper for lightweights after losing to Kevin Lee, but then he moved to welterweight in 2021. Over time, his striking volume has dropped, but he has gotten more damage out of each strike, and he has succeeded in making his opponents match his style. He lured Danny Roberts to fight his rhythm in May, and he got a big win. Brown should be able to get enough offense, though, to get the points that he needs.
Final Prediction: Brown wins via decision
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