Many people have once again criticized the promotion of the trilogy fight between Cain Velasquez and Junior Dos Santos. While the fighters’ talent should provide major promotion for the fight in itself, Dana White has repeatedly said that this is the greatest trilogy in the UFC history. I’ve always been a big supporter of Dana for his intelligent answers, along with always being outspoken. Still this is hard to build this as the greatest trilogy of all time to hardcore MMA fans.
The two fights in the trilogy were completely one-sided bouts. Everyone will always remember the trilogies of Randy Couture versus Chuck Liddell and Gray Maynard versus Frankie Edgar before anything else. That doesn’t take away anything from this fight. The fight will still be special featuring two heavyweights that are on the top of their game. Both fighters are clearly at the cream of the crop of the heavyweight division.
Other than Jon Jones, I’m not sure if you can find more of a well-rounded fighter than Cain Velasquez. Nobody in MMA is a better boxer than Junior Dos Santos. There are so many intangibles in the fight itself on where the fight can go. Neither fighter has a major flaw, which is rare to see in a fight these days.
An interesting subplot to the fight is that hopefully this will be the first fight, where neither fighter is coming in without any major pre fight injury. Everyone knew Velasquez was still having knee issues and wasn’t himself in the first fight. In the second fight, it was shown that Dos Santos over-trained and wasn’t as explosive as he usually is. Hopefully this is the fight, where we’ll see them at their best to prove who is “the baddest man on the planet”.
The special meaning behind Cain Velasquez versus Junior Dos Santos
You look at the heavyweight division and most of the top fighters are on the downside of their career. Antonio Silva, Frank Mir, Roy Nelson, Alistair Overeem, and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira are all on the downside of the career. As impressive as Mark Hunt has been over the past few years, he’s starting to get close to retirement. There aren’t many top heavyweights left, especially now that Daniel Cormier is going to go down to light heavyweight.
Fabricio Werdum will get the next title shot, but it’s highly unlikely that he can last against either Velasquez or Dos Santos. His standup has improved greatly by utilizing knees in the clinch and being more accurate with his punches. The issues are that his striking is slow and tends to rely on head movement too often while defending. Travis Browne and Stipe Miocic are two heavyweights that still have more to prove, before labeling either of them as true contenders.
The only heavyweight that may stand a chance against either Dos Santos or Velasquez would be Josh Barnett. He possesses the wrestling and pace to pose problems for both fighters. We’ve seen how impressive he is on the ground, whether it’s by using an arm triangle choke or heel hook. I’ve always been impressed by how well-rounded Barnett is. He is the only heavyweight that can be considered a serious threat to Velasquez or Dos Santos.
The outlook of the heavyweight division shows why this title fight is so special. It could be the last time for a while; we’ll see a competitive heavyweight title fight. Obviously anything can happen in the MMA, but it’s obvious that there is a major gap in talent in the heavyweight division. We’ve seen from their performances for the past few years, where they have dominated all of their opposition when they haven’t fought each other.
The major questions will be answered from Dos Santos’ cardio to Velasquez’s ability to keep Dos Santos grounded. I’m not buying into the talk of Velasquez “hitting like a girl” like Dos Santos said or people questioning Dos Santos’ takedown defense. We’ve seen Velasquez obliterate Antonio Silva on multiple occasions, Brock Lesnar at his peak, and Nogueira. If people actually believe Velasquez hits like a girl, then it’s clear that they are new MMA fans that didn’t do their homework.
The same can be said for Dos Santos’ takedown defense, which has always been among the best in the heavyweight division. Shane Carwin and Roy Nelson were unsuccessful on just about every takedown attempt when they faced Dos Santos. Even when Velasquez took down Dos Santos, he had issues keeping him down and failed to land any significant punches or elbows.
That is why I’m going to be focused more towards Dos Santos’ cardio, which is somewhat of a question mark. I’ve noticed he tends to slow down in the third round, based off his fights against Mark Hunt and Carwin. Then with Velasquez, can he actually hold Dos Santos down and finish him on the ground, similar to what he did in his first fight with Silva.
There is a special feeling about finding out who truly is the better fighter. Velasquez is the popular pick and obviously more well rounded, but you can never count out a fighter with one punch knockout power. Not to mention, Dos Santos has started to utilize kicks more. Also, Velasquez’s ability to respond to being punched has yet to be seen. Other than his loss to Dos Santos, he’s never really been knocked down like that.
I’m aware of most MMA fans already being excited for this war. My message to fans is to ignore the promotional side of the fight and be appreciative of what may be the last competitive heavyweight title fight for a while. There are many talented heavyweight fighters that are exciting to watch, but they aren’t on the level of Dos Santos and Velasquez. Both fighters are dominators and know how to impose there well by taking the fight to wherever they feel is necessary. Be ready for a war, whether it’s for five minutes or five rounds.
You can follow me on twitter at @Allen_Strk and be sure to follow @MMASucka as well.
