Author: Adam Wells

UFC 131 Will See Junior dos Santos Challenge Shane Carwin, Will The Change Be To Cigano’s Advantage?

Junior dos Santos spent weeks getting ready for a fight with Brock Lesnar at UFC 131. His preparation had to be altered two weeks ago when it was announced that Lesnar had to pull out of the fight because the diverticulitis that kept him out of action for a year between 2009-10 had returned. Dos Santos got a replacement opponent in the form of Shane Carwin.

Both dos Santos and Carwin will have to prepare diligently since they only had four weeks to prepare for each other. But will the opponent change be an advantage or disadvantage for dos Santos?

Here’s what dos Santos had to say about the late switch and how it affects his preparation (via Tatame.com):

I’m much focused. I’ve been training hard for two months now, there’s almost a month left before the bout, and I’m doing just fine. I’m on a great patch in my life, thanks’ God, I’m feeling fine and I want to fight. I don’t fight for a long time. Last time I fought it was August of 2010, and I’m fine. I’m just not fighting because of the problems my opponents are facing. Of course it brings us some problems, but I believe that God makes things happens on their own time, and now I’ll be ready to go for this one and, God help me, I’ll win.

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In all honesty, Carwin is a much better opponent for dos Santos than Lesnar. What I mean by that is Lesnar’s strong wrestling base would have caused dos Santos some problems, and with Carwin, who is not a strong wrestler, he can stand and trade punches and kicks for three rounds.

I don’t know if Lesnar would have been able to beat dos Santos because he got exposed against better strikers like Carwin and Cain Velasquez, and dos Santos is better than both of them at striking, but Carwin isn’t as dynamic as Lesnar.

Dos Santos earned a championship fight after beating Roy Nelson at UFC 117, but he didn’t want to wait until until Velasquez healed following surgery. After UFC 131, dos Santos will not have to delay his championship fight any longer as he will be victorious against Carwin at UFC 131.

UFC 130 Payouts See Travis Browne Win KO Of The Night, Who Else Joined Him In Receiving Fight Bonuses?

As has become tradition with every UFC event, the fight bonuses have been handed out and the least surprising one given was to Travis Browne for his superman punch knockout of Stefan Struve in their heavyweight tilt.

That was certainly the move that will define this event. In case you missed it, Struve was attempting to land a kick on Browne, who dodged that move by moving back slightly. Then, he jumped forward and landed a beautifully executed punch that caught Struve right on the butt of the jaw. Struve went down in a heap and the rest, as they say, is history.

Here are all the winners of the $70,000 fight night bonuses (via MMAFighting.com):

Travis Browne, Gleison Tibau, Brian Stann and Jorge Santiago each earned $70,000 “Fight Night” bonuses for their performances at Saturday’s “UFC 130: Rampage vs. Hamill” event.

Browne earned the night’s “Knockout of the Night” award, Tibau picked up the “Submission of the Night” bonus, and Stann and Santiago took home “Fight of the Night” honors.

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Tibau submitted the returning Rafaello Olivera in the second round of their fight. It aired on the Facebook preliminary card. Tibau got control of Olivera’s back late in the round and was able to sneak his arm under Olivera’s chin to get him to tap.

Stann and Santiago had a hell of a fight. They traded punches for nearly 10 minutes before Stann connected with a right that caught Santiago right on the side of his head. That was it for Santiago, but he will feel a little bit better today with an extra $70,000 in his pocket.

UFC 130 Results See Travis Browne Knockout Stefan Struve, Now He Deserves Top Competition

Travis Browne provided the highlight of the night at UFC 130 with his superman punch knockout of the lanky heavyweight Stefan Struve the first round of their heavyweight battle. The punch came out of nowhere as Struve was trying to throw a kick, but Browne timed his jump perfectly and Struve dropped like he got shot. Now, Browne wants to make a name for himself against the best that UFC has to offer.

He has yet to lose in his MMA career, boasting a record of 11-0-1 with nine of those victories coming via knockout. Seven of those knockouts have come in the first round, so he doesn’t like to mess around when the bell rings.

This was his first major test against a good UFC heavyweight fighter – Cheick Kongo is decent, but a mere shell of his former self – and he did not disappoint. He is on his way up the ladder following this performance and he knows it.

From Sherdog.com:

“I think people are going to start realizing who I am and the danger that I pose to the heavyweight division. And I think that…I am on my way up.”

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Following this impressive performance, against someone that a lot of people were talking about as one of the more dangerous up and coming young stars in the division, you would be hard pressed to argue with him.

I would like to see him take on Frank Mir in his next fight to give him a big name fighter to go up against and to see how he handles the spotlight.

Browne is far from a finished product, but he is building up an impressive collection of victories in his young career. A step up in competition is the next phase of his career.

UFC 130 Results See Quinton Jackson Handily Defeat Matt Hamill, Does He Deserve The Shot Against Jon Jones?

Quinton Jackson has heard the rumors just like everyone else. He knew that a win over Matt Hamill would in all likelihood lead to a light heavyweight championship fight against Jon Jones at some point this year. And to his credit, he put on one of his better performances in recent memory.

Hamill needed this fight to establish himself as a light heavyweight fighter in UFC. Jackson knew that this fight was his ticket to a big money match against arguably the biggest star in UFC right now. And Jackson fought like he had a lot more to lose, because he did.

UFC president Dana White was non-committal about a title shot for Rampage, but he did make a case for him in an interview with Ariel Helwani (via MMAFighting.com):

“Who out there doesn’t think Rampage is one of the best 205-pound fighters?”

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There are few fighters that boast a resume as accomplished as Quinton Jackson, but lately he has left a lot to be desired in the octagon. His fight against Rashad Evans was for the most part dull, and he lost a three round decision. His fight against Lyoto Machida was a little better, but Machida looked like the better fighter after three rounds despite losing the decision.

But Jackson made a clear statement in this fight. He proved that he is still very much invested in his fighting career. He proved that he is still one of the better light heavyweight fighters in the world when he wants to be. He proved that he has the defense to stop a world class wrestler over the course of a three round fight.

Jackson needed this win to prove to himself that he still had what it takes to compete at a high level against a hungry and eager young star. He got exactly what he needed by defeating Hamill, and now he has a chance to shock the world by defeating Jones for the light heavyweight title.

UFC 130 is in the books and it turned out to be a fairly exciting event that is going to launch the careers of two guys in particular: Brian Stann and Travis Browne.

Stann, who had his big coming-out party at UFC 125, put his name in the middleweight championship discussion with another highlight reel knockout, this time against Jorge Santiago. The guy has a great story, being a former U.S. Marine, and he is exciting to watch when he fights. What more does UFC need to put him in a title fight?

Browne had the knockout of the night when he cleaned Stefan Struve’s clock with a Superman punch in the first round of their fight. He launched himself at the lanky heavyweight and connected right on the butt of the jaw and Struve went down in a heap.

Quinton Jackson kept his winning ways going by defeating Matt Hamill in impressive fashion. He showed good defense and used effective striking to get the vote from the judges after three rounds of battle.

Rick Story made a move up the welterweight ladder with a big victory over Thiago Alves, and Frank Mir took out Roy Nelson in a heavyweight battle.

We will have the latest news, notes, information, analysis and reaction from UFC 130 and a look at UFC 131, which is just two weeks away.

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