UFC 131 was a night filled with emerging contenders.
Mark Munoz edged out a decision over Demian Maia, putting him in the title mix at middleweight. Kenny Florian had a successful featherweight debut, defeating highly regarded contender Diego Nunes. Lastly, Junior Dos Santos solidified his status as the No.1 contender in the heavyweight division with a dominant victory over Shane Carwin.
It became apparent early in the fight that Junior had the striking advantage. This is what many were expecting, given that Carwin is known as a power puncher, but is not a particularly technical striker. Dos Santos, on the other hand, is known for having the best boxing in the UFC’s heavyweight division.
Junior was able to use his jab throughout the fight to keep Carwin off balance, while periodically throwing together combinations that busted up Shane’s face.
Cigano came very close to finishing the fight in the first round, but Shane was able to cover intelligently enough to keep the fight from being stopped. Not wanting to punch himself out, Junior relented and began to pace himself.
Dos Santos was able to win the next two rounds with relative ease, ultimately earning himself the unanimous decision victory.
However, the most significant factor in this fight was not Dos Santos’ ability to out-box Carwin, it was the evolution we saw within Junior’s game.
Dos Santos has been known for a while now as a specialist because he relies almost entirely on his boxing, but in the fight with Carwin it was clear that Junior is working to become a well rounded mixed martial artist.
Since Junior had never faced off against a wrestler of Carwin’s caliber, many were surprised by his ability to keep this fight standing. Shane was occasionally able to get a hold of Dos Santos and even took him down a couple times, but each time Junior showed impressive wrestling defense, getting back to his feet quickly and gaining distance.
It was also evident that Dos Santos has been working on incorporating more kicks into his already devastating striking arsenal. He scattered a few high kicks throughout the fight, one of which landed pretty cleanly to Shane’s head. If Carwin hadn’t managed to partially block the kick, it might have been enough to put him away.
Perhaps the most surprisingly part of Dos Santos’ performance was his wrestling offense. Junior very rarely looks to bring fights the the mat, but in the third round he showed us that he is capable of doing it if he so chooses. He scored two takedowns in that third round, both of which were more dominant than any of Carwin’s.
With this win, Cigano has earned himself a title shot against heavyweight champ Cain Velasquez and so it’s great to see him working so hard on becoming a well rounded mixed martial artist. Cain is possibly the most well rounded heavyweight fighter in the world and Dos Santos will need all the tools he can muster if he wants to beat the champ.
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com