Cain Velasquez decimated Junior dos Santos at UFC 166.
Decimated.
For five rounds, the champion blasted dos Santos with punches, elbows, kick and knees, solidifying his status as the greatest heavyweight in mixed martial arts today.
Let’s check out the Fightmetric numbers and observe the extent of Velasquez’s damage.
Significant Strikes Landed/Significant Strike Percentage
Velasquez: 123 of 201/61 percent
Dos Santos: 46 of 122/38 percent
Total Strikes Landed/Total Strike Percentage
Velasquez: 274 of 378/72 percent
Dos Santos: 62 of 140/44 percent
Not only does Velasquez land a high volume of punches, he does so with incredible efficiency.
Nearly tripling dos Santos’ output, there is no question that Velasquez owned the striking portion of this fight, despite the fact that many saw (and perhaps still see) the Brazilian as the superior striker.
Factor in the champ’s two knockdowns, and that point dies in its tracks in my opinion. Maybe dos Santos would beat Velasquez in a boxing match, but inside the Octagon, the champ’s style reigns supreme.
For fun, let’s compare these numbers to those of their last encounter, a similarly one-sided drubbing in favor of Velasquez.
Velasquez: 111 of 224/50 percent
Dos Santos: 57 of 137/42 percent
Somehow, it was even worse for dos Santos this time around. After watching Velasquez beat dos Santos around the Octagon at UFC 155, this feat seemed an impossibility, but here we are. The numbers don’t lie.
Takedowns:
Velasquez: 2 of 13
Dos Santos: 0 of 1
Takedowns were a non-factor in this fight.
Yes, Velasquez threatened the takedown early and often, and I’m sure that strategy helped wear dos Santos down, but where sheer numbers are concerned, Velasquez was quite inefficient with his wrestling.
This is a testament to dos Santos’ growth as a wrestler. As you may recall, Velasquez scored an absurd 11 takedowns on dos Santos at UFC 155, a metric which the challenger was able to trim to just two this time around.
Well done, Cigano. Moral victories matter, right?
Overall assessment
The numbers completely favor Velasquez on paper, and the fight was equally lopsided in reality.
Most interestingly, Velasquez vs. dos Santos III was somehow more of a blowout than their second encounter.
Velasquez’s striking continues to improve, and he represents a scary blend of power and efficiency inside the heavyweight division.
The king reigns. Who can beat this guy?
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