Although UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos was able to easily defend his title against Frank Mir in the main event of UFC 146, it was former champ Cain Velasquez who may have made the biggest statement of the night.
Velasquez (10-1) faced off against former Strikeforce stand-out Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva (16-4) in the co-main event of the night.
Although Silva came in with a size advantage, Velasquez proved once again that size does not always matter.
Within seconds of the bout, Velasquez had Silva on the ground.
From there the former champ put on a ground-and-pound clinic on Silva, cutting him so bad that blood was spraying from his head.
“It was a mauling by the former champion,” Joe Rogan said describing the fight. “He did everything perfect. There were no flaws in his performance, no flaws in his game plan.”
Velasquez came into this fight looking to make a statement after losing the UFC heavyweight title to dos Santos in just 64 seconds at UFC on Fox 1.
With the vicious victory, Velasquez may have positioned himself to get a rematch with dos Santos.
Silva, on the other hand, has now lost two straight, including a KO loss to Velasquez’s training partner Daniel Cormier.
Velasquez showed Silva no mercy and would without a doubt love a chance to avenge the only loss of his career and regain the heavyweight title.
If the Velasquez that showed up at UFC 146 meets dos Santos, their second bout could have a very different ending than their first.
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