While the expectations for UFC 160 weren’t as high as many MMA fans thought they would have been from a card featuring two heavyweight co-main events, the exciting event resulted in a fair amount of big-time winners.
Not only did Cain Velasquez successfully retain his title, Junior Dos Santos won his fight to earn the No. 1 contendership for Velasquez’s UFC heavyweight championship.
Add in the stellar showing by fresh face T.J. Grant, and there were a few major winners from the results of UFC 160.
Complete UFC 160 Results
Cain Velasquez defeats Bigfoot Silva via knockout at 1:21 in Round 1
Junior dos Santos defeats Mark Hunt via knockout at 4:18 of Round 3
Glover Teixeira defeats James Te Huna via submission at 2:38 of Round 1
T.J. Grant defeats Gray Maynard via TKO at 2:07 of Round 1
Donald Cerrone defeats K.J. Noons via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26)
Mike Pyle defeats Rick Story via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
Dennis Bermudez defeats Max Holloway via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
Robert Whittaker defeats Colton Smith via TKO at 0:41 of Round 3
Khabib Nurmagomedov defeats Abel Trujillo via unanimous decision (30-27 x 3)
Stephen Thompson defeats Nah-Shon Burrell via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 29-28)
George Roop defeats Brian Bowles via TKO at 1:43 of Round 2
Jeremy Stephens defeats Estevan Payan via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-27)
Cain Velasquez
While Antonio Silva was coming into UFC 160 as the winner of two straight fights—including a huge upset over Alistair Overeem—it was heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez that was the biggest winner of the night when he knocked out the challenger just over a minute into the first round.
With Dos Santos winning his fight as well, the title rematch is inevitable.
Velasquez looked as dominant as he ever has been in the Octagon Saturday night, bullying Silva around and taking the fight to the challenger like the last time the duo met.
Fans that wanted a real challenger for the champion were disappointed, but the utter dominance from Velasquez proves he’s back to the elite form that helped him win the title the first time.
Junior Dos Santos
Junior Dos Santos was already viewed as one of the top heavyweights in MMA, but after knocking out the heavy-handed Mark Hunt with a kick to the face, it’s clear that the former champion wants his belt back.
Velasquez proved his domination against Silva, but Dos Santos showed with his knockout victory over Hunt that he has the kind of ability to avenge to loss to the current champion and regain his title.
Dos Santos proved that he is unquestionably one of the best strikers in any division, and with the ability to knock someone out with the assist of a spinning kick and use his improved ground game, there is no doubt that the former champion is ready for his rematch.
After such a convincing win, it’s a matter of when Dos Santos gets a title shot, not if.
T. J. Grant
While Gray Maynard was the favorite in this fight, it was T.J. Grant that emphatically made a statement to the UFC shot-callers that he is one of the bets fighters in the lightweight division today.
Maynard had his time to shine, but at 34 years old, the former Fight of the Year winner has become nothing more than a divisional gatekeeper. If Dana White and UFC officials view Maynard as a gatekeeper, Grant’s domination proved he’s a serious title contender.
And yes, Grant’s TKO of Maynard at 2:07 of Round 1 made this a dominant win.
Grant was awarded his chance at Benson Henderson and his title by White after the fight according to Yahoo! Sports, and after utterly dominating Maynard, the Canadian star will be ready for anything and everything Henderson will throw his way. That fight will be an all-out war.
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