At last night’s UFC on FX 3 post-fight press conference, UFC president Dana White announced the plans for some headliners for UFC 152 in September. Of those is Junior dos Santos’ title defense against Cain Velasquez.
Junior dos Santos is expected to defend his UFC heavyweight championship against Cain Velasquez in a rematch. Velasquez will work to defeat dos Santos, since he lost the belt to him in 2011 at UFC on FOX. Dos Santos took the title with a commanding KO only 64 seconds into Round 1.
Since his loss to dos Santos, Velasquez came back with a convincing win against Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva at UFC 146 in Silva’s first UFC appearance since moving over from Strikeforce. Velasquez took charge of that match and won via TKO, proving that much like his loss to dos Santos, Velasquez is ready to deliver the knockout this time around.
Previously, Velasquez had become heavyweight champion after he defeated Brock Lesnar at UFC 121 in 2010, also by knockout.
While Velasquez fought to remain in contention, dos Santos fought to defend his title against veteran Frank Mir at the same event; like Velasquez, dos Santos fought his opponent in a striking match that kept the champion conclusively at the top.
This planned fight between the two heavyweights for the title promises to be an exciting one. It will likely be a slugfest between two of the most powerful strikers in the organization.
Both fighters have won all of their victories in the UFC by KO, TKO or decision. While Dos Santos does have one win by submission since entering the UFC against fellow striker Mirko Cro Cop at UFC 103, it was a submission by Cro Cop after receiving vicious blows from the knees of dos Santos.
For an event in Toronto that doesn’t yet have a venue to call home, the dos Santos vs. Velasquez rematch makes UFC 152 a potential fight of the year.
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