Junior dos Santos snatched the UFC heavyweight title away from Cain Velasquez with one brutal punch in the early moments of the fight.
The two were supposed to be evenly matched, but dos Santos leveled him just one minute into the fight.
As Velasquez sprawled to the octagon floor, dos Santos pounced. After a series of vicious punches and hammerfists, Velasquez went limp and the ref had to stop the fight.
It was a disappointing conclusion to the first ever UFC on Fox event. Mixed martial arts is one of the fastest growing sports in the world, but it has yet to reach mainstream prominence.
That could have changed had this knockout occurred later in the fight. It was a thrilling ending, but it came much too soon.
Had this fight gone into the third, or even the second round, before the knockout, it would have been a great victory for the UFC. They certainly would have reeled in some new fans who normally don’t splurge for pay-per-view.
Unfortunately, dos Santos didn’t have the patience for that.
The new UFC heavyweight champion improved to 14-1 and has won his last nine fights. Now it looks as though he’ll fight Brock Lesnar in a match that will hopefully last longer than one minute and four seconds.
Velasquez lost in embarrassing fashion, but he isn’t going anywhere. He’s still 9-1, and at 29 years of age, he’s just entering his prime as a fighter.
We may get a rematch of this fight in the near future. Until then, feel free to watch that knockout over and over again.
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