Junior dos Santos will make his first heavyweight title defense against UFC veteran Frank Mir on May 26 at UFC 146. Dos Santos has predominately faced fighters who like to stand and trade punches. His last last four opponents have been Cain Velasquez, …
Junior dos Santos will make his first heavyweight title defense against UFC veteran Frank Mir on May 26 at UFC 146.
Dos Santos has predominately faced fighters who like to stand and trade punches. His last last four opponents have been Cain Velasquez, Shane Carwin, Roy Nelson and Gabriel Gonzaga.
Mir is enjoying a rebirth of sorts of his long UFC career. This fight against dos Santos will mark Mir’s 20th trek into the Octagon. Mir is 14-5 over those 20 fights.
The sight and sound of Mir’s last submission against Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira is still fresh in the minds of many MMA fans.
Personally, I had to delete the fight from my DVR after watching the replay a couple of times. There is nothing on television that makes me cringe more than seeing a limb snapped. Envision a kid peeking through their fingers while watching a scary movie and that’s how I looked watching the replay of Mir breaking Nogueira’s arm.
Surely I can’t be alone in that.
Forget about you and I, what about dos Santos? Is he going to have a quick trigger when it comes to tapping out against Mir?
Dos Santos is an elite power striker, there is no debating that. He also has a ground game that is solid enough to help him stay on his feet with Mir.
If Mir is able to weather the storm of punches by dos Santos and get the fight to the ground, he should be able to get the champion into a submissive position.
As soon as dos Santos feels his arm being cranked in the wrong direction, one would expect him to tap based off of what Mir has done to previous opponents.
With the UFC taking a different path with its latest pay-per-view, UFC 146 will feature a main card consisting of only heavyweights. This is the first time this has happened in the long history of the company. For the fans that don’t know what th…
With the UFC taking a different path with its latest pay-per-view, UFC 146 will feature a main card consisting of only heavyweights. This is the first time this has happened in the long history of the company.
For the fans that don’t know what this means, there will be plenty of mouth breathing and knockouts to go around.
You can bet on that!
Where: MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada
When: Saturday, May 26, 2012, at 10 p.m. ET
Watch: Facebook undercard fights at 7:00 p.m. ET, preliminary fights at 8:00 p.m. ET on FX, main card fights at 10 p.m. ET on pay-per-view; online pay-per-view streaming (must pay $44.99) at UFC.tv, Yahoo! Sports, UStream, Android or iPhone.
Fight Card
Main Event: UFC Heavyweight Champion Junior dos Santos vs. Frank Mir
Main Card (pay-per-view)
265 lbs.: Cain Velasquez vs. Antonio Silva
265 lbs.: Roy Nelson vs. Dave Herman
265 lbs.: Shane del Rosario vs. Stipe Miocic
265 lbs.: Lavar Johnson vs. Stefan Struve
Preliminary Card (FX Channel)
145 lbs.: Diego Brandao vs. Darren Elkins
155 lbs.: Edson Barboza vs. Jamie Varner
185 lbs.: Jason Miller vs. C.B. Dollaway
170 lbs.: Dan Hardy vs. Duane Ludwig
Preliminary Card (Facebook)
155 lbs.: Paul Sass vs. Jacob Volkmann
205 lbs.: Glover Teixeira vs. Kyle Kingsbury
145 lbs.: Mike Brown vs. Daniel Pineda
Junior dos Santos’ Keys to Victory
If Junior dos Santos walks out of UFC 146 as the heavyweight champion of the world, it will be because he used his superior striking to put a world of hurt on Frank Mir. As good as Mir’s defense is, dos Santos is a brutal striker who will pick Mir apart.
If Mir tries to stand and exchange shots with dos Santos, there is a chance this fight doesn’t make it out of the first round. Just ask Cain Velasquez.
Frank Mir’s Keys to Victory
There is no doubt that Frank Mir knows the striking ability of dos Santos and will try to avoid it like the plague. To do so, he will have to utilize his superior takedown skill and power to take away the power in the heavyweight champion’s hands.
Mir has to fight the perfect fight if he wants to win, but years of doing this at the highest level will not shake the man’s confidence. This will be an all-out war if this brawl goes to the ground like Mir wants.
Undercard Fight to Watch: Roy Nelson vs. Dave Herman
This may be personal bias, but there is no better fighter to watch than Roy Nelson. He will never flash stellar technique or outperform his opponent, but his chin is made of stone and the man can throw bombs.
If I were Dave Herman, I would be preparing to get knocked out clean by the much tougher man.
Main Event Prediction: Junior dos Santos by second-round TKO
While we love Roy Nelson because of his brute force, Junior dos Santos is by far the most talented all-around heavyweight I can remember. There is no weakness in his game, and he can adapt to any style thrown his way.
As good as Frank Mir is, his inability to get over the hump with the top fighters in the sport will have him TKO’d by dos Santos in the second round.
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It’s fight week for the UFC, and with a five-fight main card packed with heavyweights, fans are expecting it to be one of the best shows of the year. In the main event, former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir gets another chance at the title when he …
It’s fight week for the UFC, and with a five-fight main card packed with heavyweights, fans are expecting it to be one of the best shows of the year.
In the main event, former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir gets another chance at the title when he takes on reigning champion Junior dos Santos.
Santos, a Brazilian power-puncher, won the title last November and has gone unbeaten throughout his UFC career.
Mir, who is stepping up as a late replacement for Alistair Overeem, is coming off three wins, including a brutal and impressive finish of Santos’ mentor, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.
In the co-main event, Cain Velasquez and Antonio Silva will square off in a duel between two fighters looking to prove they still belong at the top of the division.
Other main card bouts include Shane del Rosario vs. Stipe Miocic, Roy Nelson vs. Dave Herman and Lavar Johnson vs. Stefan Struve.
These are my predictions for submission, knockout and fight of the night.
Knockout of the Night: Junior dos Santos
With 10 heavyweights on the card, it’s hard to think none of them will end by knockout. If JDS is to get past Mir, there is no question how the victory will come. Of his eight UFC victories, five have come by knockout, including those over Velasquez, Struve and Fabricio Werdum.
Of Mir’s five losses, all have come by knockout. He was even dropped by Nogueira in their second fight before showing better recovery than he has in the past to get the victory.
Many consider Mir to have a weak chin, but this is the heavyweight division, and he usually doesn’t get knocked out with the first punch. It often takes a barrage of punches to put him away for good. Just look at the amount of damage done to him in his losses.
This is a bad style matchup for Mir, and it will show early with a KO win for dos Santos.
Submission of the Night: Diego Brandao
Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt and Ultimate Fighter winner Diego Brandao is no stranger to getting post-fight bonuses, and his latest victory over Dennis Bermudez earned him two awards, including fight of the night and submission of the night.
His opponent, Darren Elkins, is 3-1 in the UFC with his only loss having come by an armbar submission in 41 seconds.
Training out of Jackson’s Mixed Martial Arts academy in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Brandao will have the gameplan to get the job done the best way possible in this fight.
Elkins looked good in his last fight, but his win over Michihiro Omigawa was considered a robbery by many, and his other bout versus Duane Ludwig ended when Ludwig injured his ankle.
As long as he can get it to the mat, Brandao should be able to get the ninth submission win of his career.
Fight of the Night: Edson Barboza vs. Jamie Varner
Can Edson Barboza make it four fight of the night bonuses in a row?
Despite a late change in opponents, former WEC Champion Jamie Varner is a solid test for Barboza, who is considered by many to be one of the best rising contenders in the lightweight division.
With his brutal kicks, Barboza is able to wear his opponents down and take over late in his fights. It payed off his last fight where he knocked Terry Etim out with a spinning heel kick in the third round.
Varner is 1-1 in the UFC from two bouts in 2006-2007. Since then, he has put on some of the more entertaining fights. Even in defeat, his two fights against Donald Cerrone and Benson Henderson were fun to watch.
Barboza is undefeated and Varner has never been knocked out, so this is one of the better candidates for a fight that goes the distance or long enough to have some exciting shifts in momentum.
There are very few cards that have suffered the kind of beating that has come upon UFC 146. The all-heavyweight main card, meant to draw in casual fans and rack up buys for the UFC, has turned into one giant headache for the promotion. Here is a remind…
There are very few cards that have suffered the kind of beating that has come upon UFC 146. The all-heavyweight main card, meant to draw in casual fans and rack up buys for the UFC, has turned into one giant headache for the promotion.
Here is a reminder of what the original card looked like:
When this first got announced it was easy to get excited. Dos Santos vs. Overeem was downright tantalizing with the two champions set to unify the UFC and Strikeforce heavyweight belts. Velasquez vs. Mir was a comparably exciting co-main event set to either cement the resurgence of Frank Mir or open the door for Cain Velasquez to retake his belt.
Past that, all the bouts had some level of intrigue. Nelson vs. Silva was going to show just how good either of these heavyweights were, with Silva showing he belongs in the top echelon of the UFC’s heavyweight division or Nelson proving he deserves a spot in the UFC. Meanwhile Del Rosario vs. Gonzaga and Struve vs. Hunt pitted young up-and-comers against wily veterans trying to work their way back into the public eye.
Obviously things did not stay that way. Alistair Overeem’s much-publicized failed drug test (which he claims was due to his use of a doctor-prescribed anti-inflamatory) got him booted off the card. Mir replaced Overeem for the title fight. Silva replaced Mir in the co-main event. Gonzaga replaced Silva, and was scheduled to face Roy Nelson. StipeMiocic then stepped onto the card to fight Shane del Rosario in place of Gonzaga.
That still had the makings of a decent card. Unfortunately a couple more changes had to come down. Gonzaga threw out his back during training and was replaced by heavyweight journeyman Dave Herman. Then to make sure every bout from the original card had been sabotaged, Mark Hunt had to pull out of his fight with Stefan Struve and was replaced by Lavar Johnson.
The card is currently:
Junior dos Santos vs. Frank Mir
Cain Velasquez vs. Antonio Silva
Roy Nelson vs. Dave Herman
Shane del Rosario vs. StipeMiocic
Stefan Struve vs. Lavar Johnson
Ouch.
Dos Santos vs. Mir is interesting only insofar as it is a heavyweight title fight, and lacks the appeal (and will probably also lack the excitement) of the original fight with Overeem. Velasquez vs. Silva is likely to be fun (what heavyweight fight between two guys with hands made of dynamite is not?) but the UFC was wanting to build Antonio Silva up against Roy Nelson.
Cain Velasquez, however, is no stepping stone, and should be heavily favored going into the event.
Nelson vs. Herman lacks the appeal of either of the fights Nelson had scheduled. Though “Big Country” fans should be happy about the changes, as Herman is an easier opponent than either Silva or Gonzaga (Nelson, who is 1-3 in his last four fights, is likely to be cut if he drops this bout).
Del Rosario vs. Miocic lacks any sort of name-brand recognition as both fighters are about a year removed from fighting on Strikeforce: Challengers cards on Showtime. The bout is still interesting, though, as both fighters are undefeated and have combined for only one decision. However there is no getting around the fact that either fighter is unknown to a huge majority of MMA fans.
Struve vs. Hunt actually ends up being the second biggest loss for the card. After events began pointing to Overeem being forced off the card, a huge rallying cry came up with fans calling for Hunt to replace him in the title fight. The movement failed but still put the spotlight on Hunt who, unfortunately, will not be able to take advantage of his renewed fame.
As for the actual fight, Struve often ends up in interesting technical battles due to his opponents needing to compensate for his freakish height (checking in at 6’11”). He remains one of the most under-appreciated fighters in the UFC with a 7-3 record in the promotion in just three years, but he has a tough fight in Lavar Johnson who is looking for his third knockout victory of 2012.
This combines for an injury-riddled card that does not live up to its original booking. While it is not bad, again it was supposed to be amazing. The untouched lineup of fights would have ended up one of the biggest spectacles in MMA this year (its only real competition being UFC 148). The product fans are looking at, though, does not qualify as such.
Still, there is enough to get excited about to keep most UFC fans interested. We have, after all, seen worse bunches put forth exciting fights, top-to-bottom. It is easy, though, to wonder “What if…?”
UFC 146 is unlike anything else in the long history of the UFC. Never before has the promotion considered filling a card with heavyweight fights.The major reason it’s never happened is due to the lack of quality heavyweights in the UFC’s biggest weight…
UFC 146 is unlike anything else in the long history of the UFC. Never before has the promotion considered filling a card with heavyweight fights.
The major reason it’s never happened is due to the lack of quality heavyweights in the UFC’s biggest weight class in the past. Just a few years ago, the division had a few top contenders and a rash of guys who were as far away from title shots as you can possibly get. It’s hard to fill up a pay-per-view card when you have Tim Sylvia, Andrei Arlovski and not much else to speak of.
That’s no longer the case. The UFC’s heavyweight division has grown by leaps and bounds, and it’s now deep enough that a card of this nature could finally be created. The top of the division is more stacked than ever, with guys like Cain Velasquez, Frank Mir, Fabricio Werdum and the suspended Alistair Overeem all close to title contention. Rising young stars such as Travis Browne and Stefan Struve are filling out the middle of the division.
And that’s not even counting Daniel Cormier and Josh Barnett, who will make their way to the UFC after each fighting once more in Strikeforce.
Point being, the UFC’s heavyweights are ready for a showcase like the one they’ll get on Saturday night. Whether or not they’ll deliver exciting fights is a different story.
We’ve still got a week to go before our heavyweight title fight at UFC 146, but all of the excitement already has people losing their damn minds. Frank Mir and Junior Dos Santos will clash to determine who is the ‘baddest man on the planet’…at least for another 3-4 months until he inevitably loses the title to the next challenger. Enough dilly-dallying, let’s get to this week’s installment of UFC Primetime.
“Frank was very self-destructive. Drugs, alcohol. I think Frank was pretty much intoxicated for a whole year-and-a-half of his life. It was depression and then falling into a deeper spiral.” Mir’s wife, describing his life after the motorcycle wreck that nearly ended his fighting career, which sounds uncannily like the life of most CagePotato contributors.
We’ve still got a week to go before our heavyweight title fight at UFC 146, but all of the excitement already has people losing their damn minds. Frank Mir and Junior Dos Santos will clash to determine who is the ‘baddest man on the planet’…at least for another 3-4 months until he inevitably loses the title to the next challenger. Enough dilly-dallying, let’s get to this week’s installment of UFC Primetime.
“Frank was very self-destructive. Drugs, alcohol. I think Frank was pretty much intoxicated for a whole year-and-a-half of his life. It was depression and then falling into a deeper spiral.” Mir’s wife, describing his life after the motorcycle wreck that nearly ended his fighting career, which sounds uncannily like the life of most CagePotato contributors.
“To be at such a mercy of others, to have sit there and ask my wife to go get me a glass of water because it was too painful to get up and go in the kitchen to get a glass of water. My back was against the wall, so I was like, you know, I’ll just go and get a job, and I’ll work, and that’s a new life now. And my wife didn’t like that. She felt that I was throwing the towel in too soon. We have to keep striving at getting this until we get it back.” Mir, making me feel bad for asking my girlfriend to get me a beer just because I’m lazy. Aaaaand, I’m over it.
“That’s why I take care of myself. I don’t drink alcohol, I don’t go out at night and do those stupid things, you know. I don’t like those things. I don’t need that.” Dos Santos, stating the painfully obvious.
“My training is very, very hard. In the sparring session we go 100%. I try to do what I’m going to do in the fight.” Dos Santos, describing his five round sparring sessions against five different men. Wait, where on earth does he find five dudes willing to spar with him throwing down at 100%?
“I was always a little out of place as a child, I think due to my size, I was always the biggest kid. In eighth grade I was already over 200lbs and six foot. If you are an individual or there’s something that sets you out of the pack of course you’re going to be the butt of some jokes. I remember one time in sixth grade I was getting pegged with rocks and one of them caught me pretty good in the skull. I had to go home and mom had to drive me to go get some stitches.” Mir, on being bullied in school. That’s what you get for pulling the fire alarm, Frank.
“Dos Santos pretty much does the same thing every fight. He’s undefeated in the UFC and he’s the current holder of the belt. But as far as tricky and surprising, I don’t think you can really put that on him. I know his footwork and his speed, it’s things that are simulatable.” Mir, once again painting a one-dimensional portrait of his opponent.
“I think Dos Santos wants to end it quickly, because you’ve got to be realistic. I heard his corner saying, ‘the only chance Mir has is if it goes to the ground’. Well, the only chance he has is if it doesn’t go the ground. It goes back and forth. He goes to the ground with me, he’s dead. You might as well go ahead and start calling the orthopedic surgeons and prep the room.” Mir, haven’t we been down this road before?
Junior dos Santos will make his first heavyweight title defense against UFC veteran Frank Mir on May 26 at UFC 146.