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UFC 146 Results: What’s Next for the Winners?

For the first time in UFC history, an all-heavyweight main card took the spotlight in a pay-per-view event that delivered in more ways than one. In the main event, UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos successfully defended his title with a second…

For the first time in UFC history, an all-heavyweight main card took the spotlight in a pay-per-view event that delivered in more ways than one.

In the main event, UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos successfully defended his title with a second-round knockout over former champion Frank Mir.

In the co-main event, former champion Cain Velasquez battered Strikeforce veteran Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva to rebound from the first loss of his career.

Other winners on the card include Roy Nelson, Dan Hardy, Stefan Struve and Jamie Varner. This is what’s next for them.

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Dos Santos vs. Mir Results: Round-by-Round Recap and Analysis

With the majority of their wins coming in the first round, not many fans were expecting the heavyweight championship bout between Junior dos Santos and Frank Mir to go the distance Saturday night.After an early feeling out process, Dos Santos establish…

With the majority of their wins coming in the first round, not many fans were expecting the heavyweight championship bout between Junior dos Santos and Frank Mir to go the distance Saturday night.

After an early feeling out process, Dos Santos established his attack and showcased the boxing skills that have taken him throughout his UFC career to winning the title last year.

Mir couldn’t survive the punching power of his Brazilian opponent, losing by TKO in the second round at UFC 146 in Las Vegas, Nev.

It was the main event of an all-heavyweight pay-per-view and gave fans of combat sports what they want to see from the heavyweights in a knockout.

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UFC 146: What We Learned from Edson Barboza vs. Jamie Varner

Former WEC lightweight champion Jamie Varner (20-6-1) returned to the UFC for the first time since 2007 to take on one of the best rising contenders in the division in Edson Barboza (10-1) and pulled off one of the biggest upsets, stopping the Brazilia…

What we’ll remember about this fight:

Barboza entered the fight as a near 5-to-1 favorite over Varner, making this one of the bigger upsets in recent memory. Coming off a KO of the year candidate versus Terry Etim, many expected Barboza to be the first to knock out Varner, who came into the bout as a late replacement.

After an early takedown, Varner continued his attack with punches and dropped Barboza three minutes into the round. He followed up with some hammerfists before the referee stopped the fight.

What we learned about Edson Barboza:

Barboza is known for his stand-up technique, but he was overwhelmed in that area by Varner. Backers of Varner thought he would have the bigger advantage on the ground, but it was surprising to many that he was able to get to Barboza the way that he did on his feet.

What we learned about Jamie Varner:

Without much time to actually get into a rhythm of the fight, fans have to take in what was truly an amazing upset and all-around comeback for Varner.

“I gotta thank the UFC for bringing me back,” Varner said in the post-fight interview. “Barboza is a tough, scary dude. I just wanted to come out here and put on a good performance. I didn’t care if I won or lost. I wanted to come out here and fight for the fans.”

Varner might be making a strong case for comeback fighter of the year with this performance.

What’s next for Barboza:

Nobody can be taken for granted in the lightweight division, and even though Barboza lost, he still has plenty of time to get back and improve his overall skills.

Despite his early success in the UFC, he still doesn’t have all that much experience. A fight versus Tony Ferguson, who is 13-3, would give both fighters a chance to get back on the winning track.

What’s next for Varner:

With his comeback clearly off to a great start, Varner can continue to move back into the division’s top fighters with a fight versus Matt Wiman, who is 4-1 in his last five fights.

Tonight’s UFC 146 pay-per-view will feature a five-fight main card packed with heavyweights, including current UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos, who will face former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir.

Santos, a Brazilian power-puncher, has knocked out some of the top heavyweights in the world, including Fabricio Werdum and Cain Velasquez. He won the title last November and has gone unbeaten throughout his UFC career.

Mir, who is stepping up as a late replacement for Alistair Overeem, is coming off three wins, including a brutal and impressive finish of Santos’ mentor Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. He submitted the Brazilian submission wizard with a Kimura lock in the first round of their bout at UFC 140. Other wins include those over Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic and Roy Nelson.

Other main card bouts include Cain Velasquez vs. Antonio Silva, Shane del Rosario vs. Stipe Miocic and Lavar Johnson vs. Stefan Struve.

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UFC 146: Predicting Knockout, Submission and Fight of the Night

It’s fight week for the UFC, and with a five-fight main card packed with heavyweights, fans are expecting it to be one of the best shows of the year. In the main event, former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir gets another chance at the title when he …

It’s fight week for the UFC, and with a five-fight main card packed with heavyweights, fans are expecting it to be one of the best shows of the year.

In the main event, former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir gets another chance at the title when he takes on reigning champion Junior dos Santos.

Santos, a Brazilian power-puncher, won the title last November and has gone unbeaten throughout his UFC career.

Mir, who is stepping up as a late replacement for Alistair Overeem, is coming off three wins, including a brutal and impressive finish of Santos’ mentor, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.

In the co-main event, Cain Velasquez and Antonio Silva will square off in a duel between two fighters looking to prove they still belong at the top of the division.

Other main card bouts include Shane del Rosario vs. Stipe Miocic, Roy Nelson vs. Dave Herman and Lavar Johnson vs. Stefan Struve.

These are my predictions for submission, knockout and fight of the night.

Knockout of the Night: Junior dos Santos

With 10 heavyweights on the card, it’s hard to think none of them will end by knockout. If JDS is to get past Mir, there is no question how the victory will come. Of his eight UFC victories, five have come by knockout, including those over Velasquez, Struve and Fabricio Werdum.

Of Mir’s five losses, all have come by knockout. He was even dropped by Nogueira in their second fight before showing better recovery than he has in the past to get the victory.

Many consider Mir to have a weak chin, but this is the heavyweight division, and he usually doesn’t get knocked out with the first punch. It often takes a barrage of punches to put him away for good. Just look at the amount of damage done to him in his losses.

This is a bad style matchup for Mir, and it will show early with a KO win for dos Santos.

Submission of the Night: Diego Brandao

Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt and Ultimate Fighter winner Diego Brandao is no stranger to getting post-fight bonuses, and his latest victory over Dennis Bermudez earned him two awards, including fight of the night and submission of the night.

His opponent, Darren Elkins, is 3-1 in the UFC with his only loss having come by an armbar submission in 41 seconds.

Training out of Jackson’s Mixed Martial Arts academy in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Brandao will have the gameplan to get the job done the best way possible in this fight.

Elkins looked good in his last fight, but his win over Michihiro Omigawa was considered a robbery by many, and his other bout versus Duane Ludwig ended when Ludwig injured his ankle.

As long as he can get it to the mat, Brandao should be able to get the ninth submission win of his career.

Fight of the Night: Edson Barboza vs. Jamie Varner

Can Edson Barboza make it four fight of the night bonuses in a row?

Despite a late change in opponents, former WEC Champion Jamie Varner is a solid test for Barboza, who is considered by many to be one of the best rising contenders in the lightweight division.

With his brutal kicks, Barboza is able to wear his opponents down and take over late in his fights. It payed off his last fight where he knocked Terry Etim out with a spinning heel kick in the third round.

Varner is 1-1 in the UFC from two bouts in 2006-2007. Since then, he has put on some of the more entertaining fights. Even in defeat, his two fights against Donald Cerrone and Benson Henderson were fun to watch.

Barboza is undefeated and Varner has never been knocked out, so this is one of the better candidates for a fight that goes the distance or long enough to have some exciting shifts in momentum.

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Could Chael Sonnen Submit Anderson Silva at UFC 148?

Chael Sonnen’s wish of fighting UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva for a second time was granted earlier this year, and it’s safe to say he has no intentions of going the distance at UFC 148, win or lose. For four and a half rounds in the main ev…

For four and a half rounds in the main event at UFC 117, he dominated the Brazilian with his wrestling and ground and pound. He even knocked Silva off balance in the opening minute of the fight. Still, he could not finish his opponent and ended up getting caught in a triangle choke, forcing him to tap for the eighth time in his career.

Heading into the rematch on July 7, many are expecting Silva to be better, but will the adjustments Sonnen has made in his ground game play a bigger factor in getting a finish in this fight? Will he be able to submit a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt who is the greatest pound for pound fighter in the world?

His BJJ coach and 2011 ADCC Submission Wrestling World champion, Vinny Magalhaes, thinks so.

“It was like 23 minutes of Chael on top, and he had a good grappling domination against Anderson, but he didn’t have the good jiu-jitsu guys to help him out,” Magalhaes told Ariel Helwani on the MMA Hour. “Now he does. If he gets the chance, he is going to submit Anderson.”

Sonnen picked up the fourth submission win of his career recently when he choked out Brian Stann at UFC 136. It was his first submission win since 2007. He followed up on that victory with a unanimous decision win against Michael Bisping

“Even though Chael has been a fighter for a few years now, people don’t realize that Chael never had a jiu-jitsu coach with him full time,” Magalhaes continued. “He was grappling with his teammates, but none of them are experts.”

Since the first fight with Sonnen, Silva has gone on to defeat Yushin Okami and Vitor Belfort, both by knockout.

UFC 148 will take place in Las Vegas and feature the long awaited rematch along with an interim bantamweight championship bout with Urijah Faber. Also scheduled for the card are Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin III and Rich Franklin vs. Cung Le.

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Jim Rome Interviews Chael Sonnen

If any luster was taken away from the rematch between Chael Sonnen (27-11-1) and UFC Middleweight champion Anderson Silva (31-4) when the fight was moved from Brazil to Las Vegas, the former title challenger isn’t going to let that get in the way of co…

Scheduled for UFC 148, Silva vs. Sonnen 2 might just be the most anticipated rematch in the history of the sport. It seems as if every fight is “special” in one way or the other, but this one is special in more ways than one.

“I just consider that (Las Vegas) home for me,” Sonnen said about the change of venue. He continued:

I’m from Oregon, but if I can fight in Las Vegas, that would be my ideal spot. At the same time, if we have a chance to set a record of 80,000 people, that would greatly feed my ego, and I would’ve liked to have been a part of that, but I’m happy to be in Vegas.

Silva, who has 14 consecutive wins and nine defenses of the title, could walk away from the sport any time now and do so as the greatest pound-for-pound fighter to ever step into the Octagon. He would also do so without a loss in the UFC.

His reign almost came to an end in 2010 when Sonnen dominated him for the better part of five rounds before being caught in a triangle choke and submitted. It was voted Fight of the Year by the World MMA Awards.

“Anderson Silva is Brazilian when it’s convenient, and that’s the truth,” Sonnen continued. “He’s got a two million dollar mansion in Beverly Hills. He goes and claims he is Brazilian when he wants to take a few of their dollars, and then he brings it back to America. I have a fan club in Brazil, he doesn’t. He’s a phony.”

Since losing to Silva, Sonnen has gone on to defeat Brian Stann and Michael Bisping. Many thought his fight with Bisping could have gone either way, but he was awarded the judges’ decision after three rounds.

Silva went on to defeat Yushin Okami and Vitor Belfort, both by knockout. Among his title defenses are victories against Dan Henderson, Demian Maia, Rich Franklin, Nate Marquardt and Patrick Cote.

I’m not a promoter. Dana White has a license to promote. I don’t have a license. I have a fighter’s license. I show up with short pants and a mouthpiece, and when the referee says, “Are you ready,” I say, “Yeah,” because I am.

UFC 148 will take place on July 7 and feature the rematch along with an interim bantamweight championship bout with Urijah Faber. Also scheduled for the card are Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin and Rich Franklin vs. Cung Le.

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