UFC 131 Results: Power Ranking the Top 5 Heavyweights In UFCBleacher Report’s Adam WellsWith UFC 131 in the history books, the future of the heavyweight division became a little more clear with Junior dos Santos retaining his spot as the No. 1 contende…
UFC 131 Results: Power Ranking the Top 5 Heavyweights In UFC
Bleacher Report’s Adam Wells
With UFC 131 in the history books, the future of the heavyweight division became a little more clear with Junior dos Santos retaining his spot as the No. 1 contender for Cain Velasquez’ championship.
Dos Santos’ three-round destruction of Shane Carwin moved his record to 13-1, 7-0 in UFC. The win over Carwin was by far the biggest of his career, and now he has to take on the top heavyweight in all of mixed martial arts.
Carwin, meanwhile, has lost two consecutive fights and hasn’t looked good since the last minute of the first-round of his fight with Brock Lesnar. With his lackluster performance against dos Santos, he has a long climb back up the ladder in the heavyweight division.
UFC 131 Results Video: Cain Velasquez Could Be Back in October or NovemberBleacher Report’s Nick Caron:At UFC 131, the UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez finally found out who he will be fighting when he gets back in the cage after his surgery r…
UFC 131 Results Video: Cain Velasquez Could Be Back in October or November
Bleacher Report’s Nick Caron:
At UFC 131, the UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez finally found out who he will be fighting when he gets back in the cage after his surgery rehab. It will be Junior “Cigano” dos Santos, who defeated Shane Carwin in tonight’s main event.
Velasquez was in attendance and participated in a short interview with MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani where he spoke about what he saw in the first challenger for his title.
“He’s really good with his standup, he’s hard to take down, he has really good movement,” Velasquez said. “His whole standup, his boxing, is one of the best in the whole division, so I’m excited.”
Though he was impressed by dos Santos, he also had some kind words about the man who fell short in the bout, former interim champion Shane Carwin.
“I think [Carwin] needed to shoot a little more, but he’s a tough guy,” Velasquez critiqued. “He’s much improved from what we saw with Brock. He’s conditioning was up a little bit. He looked good out there, he’s a tough guy.”
With the roll that dos Santos is on, though, oddsmakers have already begun putting Velasquez as an underdog in the future fight between the two men. That won’t bother the champion, though, as he seems to have found some holes in Cigano’s game plan. He explained the type of fighter who he believes can cause dos Santos some problems.
“Someone who will keep him down longer and just throw a lot more punches and kicks, rather than just punches. I think we need to see that with him.”
Earlier in the week, UFC President Dana White revealed that Velasquez’s rehab was going a little slower than they had expected, but the champion doesn’t really feel like it’s quite that bad.
“I’m feeling really good,” he said. “They’re saying maybe October, November; so I’m looking to do that.”
“It all depends on how fast I can get back. I want to get back as soon as possible.”
UFC 131 Results: Questions Answered and Lessons LearnedBleacher Report’s Matthew Saccaro:The smoke has cleared, the dust has settled, and UFC 131 is finally part of MMA history.In the night’s main event, Junior Dos Santos used faster and technically …
UFC 131 Results: Questions Answered and Lessons Learned
Bleacher Report’s Matthew Saccaro:
The smoke has cleared, the dust has settled, and UFC 131 is finally part of MMA history.
In the night’s main event, Junior Dos Santos used faster and technically superior striking to bloody, out-point, and nearly finish an overmatched Shane Carwin en route to a unanimous decision victory.
In the co-main event of the evening, Kenny Florian managed to out-strike and out-grapple his Brazilian adversary Diego Nunes and in doing so earned a unanimous decision victory.
Mark Munoz, Dave Herman, Donald Cerrone, Chris Weidman, Sam Stout, Krzysztof Soszynski, Nick Ring, Dustin Poirier, Joey Beltran, and Darren Elkins were all successful in their Octagon endeavours as well.
What are the most important consequences of the event? What lessons did MMA learn and what questions were answered? Read and find out!
UFC 131 Results: 6 Fights Sam Stout Should Take NextBleacher Report’s Andrew Mahlmann:Lightweight “Fight of the Night” magnet Sam Stout finally picked up his first knockout in the UFC, and it was beautiful.Stout’s “Hands of Stone” moniker rang true as…
UFC 131 Results: 6 Fights Sam Stout Should Take Next
Bleacher Report’s Andrew Mahlmann:
Lightweight “Fight of the Night” magnet Sam Stout finally picked up his first knockout in the UFC, and it was beautiful.
Stout’s “Hands of Stone” moniker rang true as he put resurgent veteran Yves Edwards away with a single picture-perfect left hook.
The standout Canadian striker has had a propensity for being in competitive wars against a range of UFC lightweight talent, but the outstanding knockout he served up could prove to be a turning point in the 27 year old’s fighting career.
Let us take a look at some of the best possible matchups for Sam Stout going forward.
If you’ve ever wondered how Cage Potato sneaks into UFC events, let’s just say it involves matching black baseball hats. Props: MMAConnected.com
Look, I get it. Vancouver fans are extremely excited about their Canucks winning 1-0 at home on Friday, putting the team one win away from taking the Stanley Cup. I’m more than willing to forgive those in attendance for being less than excited about UFC 131, an MMA event absent of title fights, or even some fellow Canadians on the main card. I’ll forgive the chants of “Go Canucks Go” and “We Want The Cup” that broke out throughout the evening. I’ll even forgive them for being won over by Jon Olav Einemo’s Canucks flag. But not watching the fights you’re supposed to be judging? That’s unacceptable.
There were some downright awful decisions made by the judges last night, causing some to wonder if they even watched the fights. Fortunately for Junior Dos Santos, his beating of Shane Carwin was too lopsided to possibly mess up. No doubt, Dos Santos looked impressive against Shane Carwin. Not only did he survive some of Shane’s hardest punches, but he also displayed some improved wrestling. He even managed to make Carwin look gun-shy, which seemed unthinkable. There were numerous times throughout the fight where it seemed crazy that Junior Dos Santos was fighting the same guy that almost dethroned Brock Lesnar. Before we get too excited though, remember that Shane Carwin managed to survive all three rounds, despite being a late replacement coming off of surgery. Time will tell how Dos Santos holds up against Cain Valesquez.
If you’ve ever wondered how Cage Potato sneaks into UFC events, let’s just say it involves matching black baseball hats. Props: MMAConnected.com
Look, I get it. Vancouver fans are extremely excited about their Canucks winning 1-0 at home on Friday, putting the team one win away from taking the Stanley Cup. I’m more than willing to forgive those in attendance for being less than excited about UFC 131, an MMA event absent of title fights, or even some fellow Canadians on the main card. I’ll forgive the chants of “Go Canucks Go” and “We Want The Cup” that broke out throughout the evening. I’ll even forgive them for being won over by Jon Olav Einemo’s Canucks flag. But not watching the fights you’re supposed to be judging? That’s unacceptable.
There were some downright awful decisions made by the judges last night, causing some to wonder if they even watched the fights. Fortunately for Junior Dos Santos, his beating of Shane Carwin was too lopsided to possibly mess up. No doubt, Dos Santos looked impressive against Shane Carwin. Not only did he survive some of Shane’s hardest punches, but he also displayed some improved wrestling. He even managed to make Carwin look gun-shy, which seemed unthinkable. There were numerous times throughout the fight where it seemed crazy that Junior Dos Santos was fighting the same guy that almost dethroned Brock Lesnar. Before we get too excited though, remember that Shane Carwin managed to survive all three rounds, despite being a late replacement coming off of surgery. Time will tell how Dos Santos holds up against Cain Valesquez.
Perhaps our expectations of Kenny Florian were a bit too high for a guy who once fought at middleweight making his featherweight debut. Florian, who began his cut to featherweight weighing 180 pounds, coasted to a decision victory against Diego Nunes. Even though his cardio was still as good as ever, Florian looked too slow against Nunes to be a threat to the top featherweights. In all fairness to Florian, however, he may have been slow simply because this was his first fight at featherweight. Even though he is more than likely next in line for a title shot, he should probably be given one more fight at featherweight to adjust his weight cut before being offered up to Jose Aldo.
With his victory against Demian Maia, Mark Munoz becomes a contender at middleweight. He looked impressive last night by avoiding submissions from Demian Maia on his way to a unanimous decision victory. However, he also managed to get rocked on numerous occasions by the mediocre kickboxer. Munoz will need to spend more time on his striking in order to survive the deep end of the middleweight division.
Speaking of spending more time on striking, Vagner Rocha and Jon Olav Einemo should probably do that as well. Rocha was never given a chance to utilize his jiu jitsu against Donald Cerrone. Cerrone, who leg kicked his way to the victory, was never in any real danger of being caught by Rocha’s desperate haymakers. Then again, perhaps it is a bit unfair to be so hard on Jon Olav Einemo. Despite the time spent at Golden Glory, Einemo was coming off of a five year layoff against a dangerous striker, Dave Herman. What else were we to expect? If anything, it’s an accomplishment that he had Herman in trouble a few times during the fight, which is no easy task. Another fight in the UFC will see whether or not Einemo can still be a competitor in today’s MMA scene. Just not against Shane Carwin.
Junior Dos Santos defeats Shane Carwin via Unanimous Decision
Donald Cerrone defeats Vagner Rocha via Unanimous Decision
Dave Herman defeats Jon Olav Einemo via TKO (Strikes) Round 2
Mark Munoz defeats Demian Maia via Unanimous Decision
Kenny Florian defeats Diego Nunes via Unanimous Decision
Sam Stout defeats Yves Edwards via TKO (Strikes) Round 1
Chris Weidman defeats Jesse Bongfeldt via Submission (Standing Guillotine Choke) Round 1
Krzysztof Soszynski def. Mike Massenzio via unanimous decision
Nick Ring def. James Head via submission (rear-naked choke) in round 3
Darren Elkins def. Michihiro Omigawa via unanimous decision
Dustin Poirier def. Jason Young via unanimous decision
Joey Beltran def. Aaron Rosa via technical knockout in round 3
Nobody expected Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu ace and former middleweight top contender Demian Maia to come out swinging at UFC 131.Maia dominated the first round with some heavy hands and quick strikes, buckling Mark Muñoz in the first round.”I don’t how I got…
Nobody expected Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu ace and former middleweight top contender Demian Maia to come out swinging at UFC 131.
Maia dominated the first round with some heavy hands and quick strikes, buckling Mark Muñoz in the first round.
“I don’t how I got hit and dazed, it was kind of weird like voodoo or something,” Muñoz said in the post fight interview.
Muñoz went on to say that Maia was throwing a lot straighter than usual, but reverted to his Jiu-Jitsu background in the 2nd round, opening up a chance for Muñoz to sprawl and hit him with strikes.
Capitalizing on Maia’s adjusted gameplan going into the later rounds, Muñoz was able to edge out the decision.
Now on a three fight win streak, Muñoz will look to be added into the title mix in the middleweight division.
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