Why Junior Dos Santos Will Beat Cain Velasquez

Post-UFC 131, it seems more than apparent that Junior Dos Santos is the number one contender in the Heavyweight Division.JDS showed a dominant standup and ground game in his fight with Shane Carwin, along with the sportsmanship of a true athlete. Furth…

Post-UFC 131, it seems more than apparent that Junior Dos Santos is the number one contender in the Heavyweight Division.

JDS showed a dominant standup and ground game in his fight with Shane Carwin, along with the sportsmanship of a true athlete. Furthermore, it seems more than plausible that Dos Santos will be able to take on Cain Velasquez and beat him without much trouble at all.

This isn’t to take anything away from Velasquez, who is a great athlete and champion, but Junior seems to be fighting on a whole new level.

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MMA Link Club: Post UFC 131 Dos Santos vs. Carwin Fight Card Edition

UFC 131 Aftermath (Cage Potato)Junior Dos Santos gets the title shot he was promised, again (Middle Easy)Kenny Florian ‘More Than Likely’ Earned a Title Shot With Win at UFC 131 (MMA Fighting)Check out “Blood & Bone” with Michael Jai Wh…

UFC 131 Aftermath (Cage Potato)

Junior Dos Santos gets the title shot he was promised, again (Middle Easy)

Kenny Florian ‘More Than Likely’ Earned a Title Shot With Win at UFC 131 (MMA Fighting)

Check out “Blood & Bone” with Michael Jai White at New York museum (The Fight Nerd)

Junior dos Santos vs. Shane Carwin Highlight Video (Low Kick)

Stats Illustrate Junior dos Santos Dominance Over Shane Carwin at UFC 131(MMA Convert)

Junior dos Santos Looking to Knock Cain Velasquez Out (5th Round)

Sam Stout’s scintillating finish of Yves Edwards named UFC 131 “Knockout of the Night” (Five Ounces of Pain)

Dos Santos Pummels Carwin (NBC Sports)

UFC 131 results: Kenny Florian wants Jose Aldo’s belt (Video) (MMA Mania)

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UFC 131 Results: Report Cards for All the Main Card Fighters

Another Saturday night, another UFC event in the history books.Across the board, expectations for UFC 131 weren’t all that high. But to the surprise of many, the card ended up being very entertaining. We saw two UFC heavyweight newcomers put on a …

Another Saturday night, another UFC event in the history books.

Across the board, expectations for UFC 131 weren’t all that high. But to the surprise of many, the card ended up being very entertaining. 

We saw two UFC heavyweight newcomers put on a dazzling display, a former middleweight make a successful featherweight debut, two ground artists put on a stand-up clinic, and the emergence of the next heavyweight title contender.

It is once again that time for Professor Schielke to check out the performance turned in by the main card fighters, and dish out some report cards.

So who makes the honor roll, and who may be held back a grade? Check it out for yourself.

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UFC 131: Inside Junior Dos Santos’ Impressive Victory

After seven consecutive wins to begin his Ultimate Fighting Championship career, Junior dos Santos finally has his chance. After an impressive decision win over Shane Carwin at UFC 131, dos Santos will face Cain Velasquez in the not-too-distant fu…

After seven consecutive wins to begin his Ultimate Fighting Championship career, Junior dos Santos finally has his chance.

After an impressive decision win over Shane Carwin at UFC 131, dos Santos will face Cain Velasquez in the not-too-distant future for the heavyweight championship.

He has beaten some of the best on his way to the title shot, including Fabricio Werdum, Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic and now Carwin.

The victory for dos Santos (13-1, 7-0 UFC) was nothing short of impressive, as he dominated Carwin (12-2, 4-2 UFC) from start to finish. Though Carwin seemed to have improved his cardio, he was no match for dos Santos, who began to wear Carwin down at the end of Round 1.

After a relatively tepid beginning, Carwin attempted a single leg takedown at the 3:05 mark of the first round, but dos Santos got back up quickly. It may have been the first sign for Carwin that things were not going to go his way on the night.

By the end of the first round, dos Santos was landing some jabs, taking Carwin down at the 4:15 mark. The round ended with dos Santos pounding Carwin, a result reminiscent of Carwin’s pounding of fellow heavyweight Frank Mir at UFC 111, which gave Carwin the interim heavyweight belt.

This time around, Carwin was on the receiving end of the beatdown from the now 13-1 dos Santos. Referee Herb Dean had an opportunity to stop the fight as a bloodied Carwin took the beatdown from dos Santos, but give Dean credit for letting the fight continue. UFC President Dana White also praised Dean for allowing the fight to carry on.

Dos Santos began Round 2 with a rare head kick in the early stage of the round, something we have not seen from the boxing expert much in his UFC lifetime. Indeed, the kicks are something that White said dos Santos will have to work on.

“You know what I think?” said White, at the postfight news conference. “I think he’s going to have to get a lot more well-rounded. He said he’s going to work on his boxing. Dude, you better start working on your kicks and your punches.”

Despite being heavily bruised, Carwin was still showing signs of strong cardio through the midway mark of the second round. It even seemed as if Carwin had gained some momentum around the 2:55 mark of the round, with Carwin hunting dos Santos admirably. His corner screamed “Back him up, Shane!” as they urged the Division II wrestling champion to continue his hunting of dos Santos.

However, dos Santos was simply too much. He landed some late body shots on Carwin and took Round 2 by controlling the early and late parts of the round.

Despite an early takedown in Round 3, Carwin was unable to do much with dos Santos down. Dos Santos had worked himself loose within 20 seconds of being taken down by Carwin. It was a pivotal storyline of the fight; Carwin was able to take dos Santos down a few times, but unable to do anything once he had him down.

Dos Santos continued to pound Carwin with a steady left hook, with many punches landing in the 2:45 to 3:00 mark of the third round. Dos Santos perfectly executed two takedowns in the final minute of the round, giving him the third round. It was the most competitive round of the fight, but dos Santos was able to take it.

It was clearly a frustrating fight for Carwin, who, despite having good cardio and a decent game plan, was outworked by the Brazilian’s boxing. When all was said and done, dos Santos had the heavy striking advantage, 104-22. Carwin was unable to land a single body shot in the fight, which hampered his ability to wear down dos Santos at all.

The stage is now set for a dos Santos-Velasquez title match, which could happen in October at UFC 136 in Houston. The absence of Brock Lesnar gave Carwin an opportunity, but he was unable to come up with the victory and has now lost his last two fights. Despite that fact, White has many kind words for Carwin.

Dos Santos will have plenty to work on for his fight with Velasquez. He will be facing somebody with equal, if not better cardio than Carwin.

For now though, a 30-27, 30-27, 30-26 scoring gives dos Santos his first chance at the heavyweight title. Will he be able to take the next step in his young career, much like Jon Jones has done in his short time in the UFC?

Don’t look now, but the future of the UFC is growing up before our very eyes, as dos Santos has begun what could be an illustrious career inside the Octagon.

Sources: ESPN.com, FightMetric

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UFC 131 Results: Velasquez vs. Dos Santos Will Be War for the Ages

UFC 131 Results: Velasquez vs. Dos Santos Will Be War for the AgesBleacher Report’s Jake Martin:Junior dos Santos battered Shane Carwin last night in a unanimous decision victory to secure a title shot against the champion Cain Velasquez later this y…

UFC 131 Results: Velasquez vs. Dos Santos Will Be War for the Ages

Bleacher Report’s Jake Martin:

Junior dos Santos battered Shane Carwin last night in a unanimous decision victory to secure a title shot against the champion Cain Velasquez later this year, in what has the potential to be one of the greatest title fights in UFC history.

I haven’t been this excited to see a heavyweight fight since the Pride days of Mirko Cro Cop squaring off against Fedor Emelianenko. Dos Santos had a brilliant performance last night as he kept Carwin at bay with that precise jab, hurt him with some good combinations and handled Carwin’s takedown attempts very well.

Finally, the heavyweight showdown of the century is set up and unless an injury prevents these two from fighting each other again, they should battle it out in October or November.

I always envisioned these two fighting each other on a grand stage since they first entered the UFC and ran through the heavyweight division. They ripped through opponent after opponent, and the UFC did a brilliant job of never matching up these two promising contenders.

Now they will fight for the for the title. We witnessed both fighters go from exciting prospect to contender to the elite of the division. As far as buys, this might not bring in the large number of PPV buys that a Brock Lesnar fight would, but fight fans couldn’t ask for a more exciting matchup. Both are looked at as the elite of the division, and with the exception of Strikeforce Champion Alistair Overeem, the two have the best striking ability in MMA at heavyweight.

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UFC 131 Results: 4 Fights Demian Maia Should Take to Rebound

UFC 131 Results: 4 Fights Demian Maia Should Take to ReboundBleacher Report’s Sean Smith:Despite losing to Mark Munoz at UFC 131, Demian Maia may have taken a step forward in his MMA career. During the fight, Maia showed much improved striking, which h…

UFC 131 Results: 4 Fights Demian Maia Should Take to Rebound

Bleacher Report’s Sean Smith:

Despite losing to Mark Munoz at UFC 131, Demian Maia may have taken a step forward in his MMA career. During the fight, Maia showed much improved striking, which has been his Achilles heel since he came into the UFC.

Maia will now have to try to get a new winning streak going in order to get back in the mix for getting a shot at the middleweight title, but that shouldn’t be a problem as long as his stand-up game continues to progress like it has.

Here are the four most likely fights that Maia could take next in order to get back on a winning track.

Stay tuned to Bleacher Report for all things UFC 131, including the latest UFC 131 Results, Fight Card AnalysisUFC 131 News, and Live Reaction, from Vancouver.