Junior dos Santos came out to Rocky’s theme song for battle with his arch-nemesis Cain Velasquez.
To start the first round Velasquez took the fight to the ground immediately, however Dos Santos scrambled up. Dos Santos used his boxing with very precise accuracy. Velasquez attempted numerous takedowns with Dos Santos just jumping out of the way. Velasquez landed a big right hand that dropped Dos Santos and landed short punches. When Dos Santos made his way back to his feet, Velasquez immediately took him down to land some good ground and pound.
The second round began the same with Velasquez man handling Dos Santos. On the ground Velasquez threw punishing punches. Anytime Dos Santos got to his feet, Velasquez brought him right back down to the mat. In a scramble on the mat, Velasquez took Dos Santos’ arm, but ended up losing it and the two end up on their feet. Dos Santos has had zero offense since early in the first round.
Dos Santos landed a couple nice shots, prior to Velasquez taking him down to the mat. On the feet, Velasquez continued to punish Dos Santos not only to the head, but to the body as well. A very gassed Dos Santos didn’t even fight back with a minute and a half left when Velasquez punished him with numerous combinations. Dos Santos ended the round throwing a couple nice punches.
With Dos Santos standing against the fence Velasquez landed numerous shots at will. A very grinding fourth round with both men losing some stream.
Dos Santos scrambled off numerous take-down attempts to start the fifth and landed some nice punches. Finally with two and a half minutes left Velasquez landed a takedown and took the half guard position. Velasquez controlled every aspect of the fight to once again capture the UFC Heavyweight Championship.
Both Dos Santos and Velasquez spoke following the fight about their five round battle.
Cain Velasquez:
“I knew that Junior was a tough striker and he was able to end our last fight that way, so I was prepared for him this time. I was able to effectively use my striking and my grappling to control him throughout the fight and get the title back.”
Junior dos Santos:
“Velasquez is a tough opponent. His grappling is great and tonight his striking was great as well. Congratulations to him on his victory.”
