Gone in 64 seconds.
After working years for the opportunity and then spending months on the trainers’ table, Cain Velasquez lost his hard-won UFC heavyweight title in his first defense of the belt, when Junior dos Santos knocked him out in 1:04 of the first round at UFC on Fox 1.
After the fight, Velasquez told commentator Joe Rogan that “I will come back. I will get this belt back, for sure.”
So will he? I think so.
Velasquez got caught by an overhand dos Santos right. No shock or shame in that—dos Santos may be the most dangerous boxer in MMA today. While the loss was as unequivocal as it was sudden, it wasn’t the kind of wire-to-wire domination that would suggest one fighter’s total mastery of another.
In fact, a lot of questions leading up to the fight centered on dos Santos’ ability (or lack thereof) to survive on the ground with a wrestler as accomplished as Velasquez. Those questions remain unanswered, and Velasquez still has the skills to test dos Santos in that area.
Furthermore, Dos Santos is only 27; Velasquez only 29. Both these men are likable and popular within very important segments of the UFC fan base. And both men are really, really good. For my money, there will be a rematch, and Velasquez will be successful. He’s just too talented to keep down forever. My hope is that, over time, there will be multiple rematches. With the winner of Brock Lesnar and Alistair Overeem on tap next for dos Santos, it may not happen right away. But logic dictates that it will happen, and that Velasquez, sooner or later, will reclaim his belt, whether it be in a rematch with dos Santos or another fighter from the heavyweight contender pool, no member of which has thus far been able to best Velasquez yet.
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