Cain Velasquez Mauls Junior Dos Santos, Snares Title At UFC 155
Cain Velasquez raised his hands, flashed a toothy grin and collapsed in the center of the Octagon. After losing his title in the UFC’s first event on Fox last November, Velasquez put on a dominant performance to cap off 2012, defeating Junior dos Santos via one sided unanimous decision.
It was fitting revenge for Velasquez, who added another workman like performance to his resume. The judges saw it 50-45, 50-43 and 50-44.
It was clear from the opening moments that this wouldn’t be a rehash of their first bout. Velasquez flew out of the corner and poured on relentless pressure. Dos Santos showed flashes of brilliance in the early going, stuffing a few of the challenger’s takedown attempts.
With dos Santos walking away from Velasquez’ first few takedown attempts, it looked to be a standup war. A hard right hand from Velasquez rocked dos Santos and changed all that. From there, Velasquez looked like the Velasquez of old, raining down punches to the face of dos Santos.
“Cigano” could barely stand at the close of the first.
The onslaught continued in the second as an emboldened Velasquez put dos Santos on his back at will. The man who spent just 13 seconds on the canvas spent a great deal of the opening two rounds staring at the lights.
If the takedowns weren’t enough, dos Santos also had no answer for the unrelenting pressure of Velasquez. Dos Santos was peppered with punches at close range. As each five minute stanza came to a close, the metamorphosis on the Brazilian’s face was striking. Velasquez turned his opponent’s mug into a slab of raw beef.
With a gas tank on E, dos Santos limped through the last ten minutes. He managed a haymaker here and an elbow there, but he struck little more than air.
In a fight of the year candidate, Jim Miller topped Joe Lauzon via unanimous decision. A Miller elbow turned the contest into a bloodbath earlier on. The judges scored the bout 29-28 across the board.
Costa Phillipou derailed the Tim Boetsch hype train, finishing the “Barbarian” with strikes at 2:11 in the third round.
Yushin Okami grappled his way to a win against Alan Belcher. All three judges gave Okami the nod with scores of 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28.
Derek Brunson ruined Chris Leben’s return, besting “The Crippler” by unanimous decision. All three judges scored it 29-28.
