In all honesty, we barely learned anything from the first fight between Junior dos Santos and then-UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez at UFC on Fox 1.
That’s just the nature of flash knockouts.
We already knew that JDS possessed serious power in hands from victories against Gabriel Gonzaga, Gilbert Yvel, Stefan Struve and Fabricio Werdum. And while Velasquez had never been stopped on strikes before, just about any heavyweight would go down from a shot behind the ear.
That doesn’t leave much to ponder in the lead up to UFC 155, where both heavyweights will attempt to settle beyond a doubt whom the better fighter truly is.
What we can analyze, though, is how focused each man has seemed since that title fight.
The Smiling Champion
Junior dos Santos has been all smiles and sunshine, gleaming with the pride of bringing the UFC heavyweight title back home to Brazil. During various vignettes and previews, the champion has seemed to be his usual happy-go-lucky self.
Even during UFC 146, JDS wasn’t all business against Frank Mir, taking time to taunt the jiu-jitsu master after a failed submission attempt. Irregardless, the killer instinct was still there once JDS sensed the right moment to end the fight.
If JDS is letting the success get to his head, it’s clearly not a problem for the potent striker yet. But then again, it appears that his attention isn’t fully focused on the next task at hand.
The Shadow of “The Reem”
Despite the fact that international heavyweight superstar Alistair Overeem has been shuttled back into “the mix” following a positive test for elevated testosterone levels, dos Santos has spent more time talking about the Dutchman than anyone else.
Although Velasquez waits in the wings, and talks of a superfight with Jon Jones lurk in the background, JDS has been incensed about Overeem’s suspected drug use, calling his potential foe a cheater and worse during several pointed interviews. Amid all the talk, it’s obvious that JDS has a chip on his shoulder about performance enhancing drugs and their stranglehold on MMA.
But the question is, how much is that distracting the UFC champion? Moreover, will all that attention paid to such a distant rival come back to hurt JDS when he makes his next title defense?
The Angry Ex-Champion
Unlike dos Santos, former champion Velasquez is rarely grinning from ear to ear.
At the very least, the American Kickboxing Academy star seems viciously intent on reclaiming his lost title, and almost nothing in the heavyweight division has been as eye-opening as his brutal one-sided mauling of Antonio Silva at UFC 146 this past May.
For the better part of three minutes, Velasquez unleashed a lightning-paced onslaught all over Silva’s face in a tornado of fury, nearly turning “Bigfoot” into a murder victim. Inexplicably, the referee stoppage didn’t come until Silva was literally coated in blood, drowning under Velasquez’s assault.
If actions speak louder than words, the former champ is practically screaming at the top of his lungs.
Where JDS usually seems happy just to be living in the moment, and where Overeem seems content to ride out the storm, Velasquez simply looks like he wants to tear the world apart.
And at UFC 155, that might make all the difference.
McKinley Noble is an MMA conspiracy theorist and FightFans Radio writer. His work has appeared in GamePro, Macworld and PC World. Talk with him on Twitter.
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com