There wasn’t a copious amount of blood covering the fighters as they stood in the Octagon after the conclusion of this one, but the end result of the rematch between UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez and Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva was the same as their first meeting.
The result: a first-round TKO victory for Velasquez.
Scratch that, I shouldn’t say that the result wasn’t different because the bout at UFC 160 did end a little differently than the first meeting between the two fighters—it was over quicker.
The first meeting between Velasquez and Silva took place at UFC 146; that contest lasted three minutes and 36 blood-soaked seconds. The bout at UFC 160 lasted 1:21.
Velasquez, an accomplished wrestler looked for two takedowns early, but was unable to secure either. The champion then went to plan B, which was his striking game.
After working at distance for a brief time, Silva stepped in close, and Velasquez unloaded a right that sent his opponent to a knee. Once Silva was down, the champion took his back and unloaded numerous shots to the head of the larger fighter. Silva was not defending the strikes of Velasquez, which brought the referee in for the stoppage.
At the post-fight press conference, Silva commented that some of the strikes landed to the back of his head, but upon viewing the fight a second time, I could see only one illegal strike land. All the other punches landed to the side of Silva’s head.
UFC president Dana White said at the post-fight press conference that the Velasquez win will set up a third fight between Velasquez and former champion Junior dos Santos.
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