This isn’t going to be a full UFC 166 review, even though more than half of the main card featured heavyweight fights. I’m strictly directing this article to the heavyweight division and the future matchups for the heavyweight who fought on Saturday. As expected, Gilbert Melendez and John Dodson put on impressive performances to assure themselves another title shot with one more win. On the other hand, Diego Sanchez assured himself of at least a co-main event slot in his next fight. That fight wasn’t anywhere close to fight of the year, due to Melendez controlling the fight for about 13 minutes. The fight was still incredible and lived up to expectations.
UFC 166: The breakdown and future of the heavyweights
UFC 166 featured many heavyweights and all three fights were one-sided. Cain Velasquez and Daniel Cormier winning weren’t major surprises, but Gabriel Gonzaga surprised me with his improved boxing. I’ll get to him later, as I’ll discuss all six fighters regarding their performance and future.
Cain Velasquez
Jon Anik likes to use the nickname “Cardio Cain” when talking about the heavyweight champion. I’d like to see someone come up with a better nickname because that couldn’t fit better. Once again, Velasquez’s pace and constant pressure was the difference. He never allowed Junior Dos Santos much space to utilize his jab, which was obviously part of his game plan. In almost every Dos Santos fight, you’ll see him use his jab constantly to set up his vicious uppercut or right cross.
Some fight fans hate game plans, while others applaud game plans that work to perfection. I’m not sure how anyone couldn’t applaud what Velasquez did completely taking Dos Santos out of his comfort zone. Other than the first 30 seconds of both fighters brawling, there wasn’t any point of the fight that Velasquez looked threatened.
He looks unstoppable right now and his loss to Dos Santos looks pretty fluky, after the trilogy had ended. He’ll most likely face Fabricio Werdum next, which will be a tricky matchup. It will be the third straight Brazilian opponent, although Werdum is much different from Dos Santos and Antonio Silva. Velasquez will have to implement a similar style by keeping the fight either standing or against the cage. Werdum’s jiu-jitsu is the best in the heavyweight division and has quite possibly the best guard in all of MMA.
Junior Dos Santos
It turns out the only flaw in Dos Santos’ game couldn’t have been more exposed. You started to see by the third round that he was gassing out and had no answer to Velasquez’s pressure. His head movement was much slower than usual, even though he was insane for not putting his hands up. It was frustrating to see him eventually get some space, but never move away from the fence. You would think that he’d know better to get away from the cage, after being controlled and taking heavy shots from that position.
Once again, his takedown defense was superb and was only really controlled for about thirty seconds on the ground. He never really took any damage from the ground either. It came down to cardio and simply didn’t have the explosiveness to push the pace. He wasn’t moving around well either, although Velasquez did a great job landing knees to his lower left leg. While his physical appearance showed that he’s in excellent shape. He simply didn’t have the cardio that was needed for 25 minutes. There are far more heavyweights that have worse cardio than Dos Santos, so there is nothing to be ashamed of. Unless you stop Velasquez early, it could end up being a long night based on Velasquez’s cardio advantage.
It will likely be a long recovery for Dos Santos. He took obscene punishment, which led to his left eye being shut by the fourth round. Just like most people, I felt that the fight could have very well been stopped in the fourth round. It’ll be a long road towards getting another title shot, which could very well mean three straight impressive victories. I’d personally like to see him face Alistair Overeem next because of the bad blood between them. If Overeem can get past Frank Mir, it would make sense. It’ll be the ultimate test for both fighters to see if Overeem is ready to make a run towards the heavyweight title or if Dos Santos is still better than the rest of the division.
Daniel Cormier
It was a much-improved performance by Cormier on Saturday. We got to see more of his striking, which continues to evolve. Then he showed off his wrestling by using a few nice leg trips to eventually get Nelson down. There isn’t anything negative to say about his performance. We didn’t see a repeat of him holding his opponent against the cage similar to his last fight against Mir. We saw Cormier land big shots and use his speed to make Nelson look hopeless.
Some people didn’t watch Strikeforce and are newer fans didn’t understand the hype about Cormier. They were just judging his performance against Mir, which wasn’t impressive due to the lack of excitement. This was his breakout party to the newer audience going up against Nelson, who was fired up and had months to get ready for a fight that he wanted.
I’m expecting Cormier’s weight cut to go just fine, after he weighed in at 224 pounds on Friday. He looks ready to move to light heavyweight and challenge for the title. A fight with Alexander Gustafsson would make sense, as they are the clear contenders behind Glover Teixeira. Since the fight would be in Sweden, it would be the most important non-title fight on free television in UFC history. With more weight being cut, I expect Cormier to be faster and to continue to use more kicks like he did against Nelson. He continues to impress and should be even more explosive at 205 pounds. You can also expect him to start finishing fights, since he’ll be more powerful fighter in that division.
Roy Nelson
For the second straight fight, Nelson looked absolutely pitiful. His footwork was beyond sloppy and was once again gassed out by the end of the first round. I was a believer in Nelson, after seeing the picture of him slimmed down. My belief was that Nelson was going to keep it competitive and actually make Cormier take him to the ground at will. Instead he landed no combinations, Cormier couldn’t have been more comfortable on his feet, and was never close to being threatened. Meanwhile Nelson was getting tagged on a consistent basis like he usually does, when the fight doesn’t end in four minutes.
It was also sad to see Nelson have the audacity to call out Cormier for not engaging enough. Hopefully he’ll watch the fight over and realize that he got outclassed when the fight was standing. He may not have taken major damage, but Cormier made him look like an amateur when it came to striking. The bad camp may have affected him, but you have to come in more aggressive coming off a lopsided loss. This was a career changing fight for Nelson and he laid a complete egg. It wasn’t the first time he laid an egg either.
I’m not sure what the future holds for Nelson. The appeal of watching him fight may start to dwindle because people are starting to realize that if he can’t win in the first round, he’ll more than likely gas out and not push the pace in the latter rounds when he needs to. Nelson showed once again he couldn’t hang with top ten heavyweights. The rankings may show that he’s in the top ten, but I’d take Mark Hunt and Brendan Schaub over Nelson. The rankings are looking more like a popularity contest anyway and don’t hold much merit, when it comes to breaking down fights. A fight with Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira would be interesting for him, since both fighters are widely popular and it’ll be a standup war.
Gabriel Gonzaga & Shawn Jordan
Since the fight only lasted a minute, I’m going to put both fighters in the same area. It was really surprising to see Jordan finished that quickly. He seemed to have better footwork and was more explosive in the standup. Many people including myself believed that Gonzaga couldn’t handle Jordan’s relentless pace. The best way to counter that is by hitting a counter right hook right on your opponent’s jaw. Gonzaga has always had knockout power and it was on display once again.
This has to be a major letdown for Jordan, considering he was riding on some major momentum. He simply got too reckless and he paid the price. Gonzaga continues to revive his career and a fight with Stipe Miocic would be the perfect test for him right now. Brendan Schaub may be another name that comes to mind, but they fought already and the fight was pretty lackluster. It would be a great test to see how improved Gonzaga’s boxing is going up against someone like Miocic, who has fast hands and knockout power. Jordan could fight someone like Matt Mitrione, who will look to stand and bang. I’m always looking towards similar styles to make fights. Then again, it isn’t that hard to find similar styles in the heavyweight division.
UFC 166 was the best pay-per-view in the company’s history. It had the star power and so many memorable moments. I know that UFC 116 with Brock Lesnar coming back to defeat Shane Carwin was incredible, but UFC 166 blows it away. The main card didn’t have a fight anywhere close to Diego Sanchez against Gilbert Melendez. Then you look at the huge knockouts by Gonzaga and Dodson. Even the prelims, which had so many good fights featuring some memorable moments. Hector Lombard has massive upside in the welterweight division, with his power and striking ability.
It was a proud night to be a MMA fan. The heavyweights represented well and hopefully will see more cards feature multiple heavyweight fights. I’m not expecting all of those future fights to come to fruition, but I’m hoping a few of them do. There are still plenty of fans that want to see Dos Santos and Overeem clash. The same can be said for Nogueira facing Nelson. Even though the division is lacking depth, there is still a lot of excitement coming out of the heavyweight division.
You can follow me on twitter @Allen_Strk and be sure to follow @MMASucka for all news and updates
