Tag: Junior dos Santos

UFC 131 Shane Carwin vs Junior dos Santos: Predictions for UFC 131

Bleacher Report’s Dale De Souza:

When Shane Carwin lost to then-UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar by second-round Arm Triangle at UFC 116 last July, the MMA world—quick to jump to discussions about dream fights for Carwin against the likes of Cain Velasquez and Junior “Cigano” Dos Santos—was on the verge of becoming accommodated with the Brock Lesnar era and started to question whether or not they would ever get to see Carwin in meaningful fights against Velasquez or Dos Santos for as long as they lived.

Fast forward almost a year later to now, when we as a proud MMA-addicted community are less than a week away from UFC 131, and what fight do we have to call “the main event of the evening” for this Saturday’s fight card?

Four months ago, the answer was a Heavyweight bout between Brock Lesnar and Junior Dos Santos, but on May 12, 2011, multiple Mixed Martial Arts news outlets were able to confirm that the now-former UFC Heavyweight Champion was not only out of the bout, and not only forced to have a full foot of his colon removed, but Shane Carwin has stepped in for Lesnar.

It’s the Heavyweight main event we thought we’d never see, and it’s our main event this Saturday, backed by the continuing “Gold Rush”, so to speak, of TUF 1 Middleweight runner-up Kenny Florian against the fast-rising, hard-hitting, well-rounded Muay Thai mutilation machine and Black House Featherweight prospect Diego “The Gun” Nunes, who comes in off of the heels of a big UFC 125 victory over former WEC Featherweight Champion Mike Brown.

Also, Demian Maia walks into UFC 131 with only glaring defeats to Nate Marquardt and Anderson Silva on his otherwise blooming-bright professional record, and he looks to step in front of Silva once more, provided of two things, one of which is for him to soundly make rapid work of well-known Black House affiliate and Reign MMA standout Mark Munoz, who is looking to capitalize on the success he garnered against CB Dollaway at the most recent UFC Live event.

From top to bottom, the overall fight card is stacked with a little bit of something for every MMA fan’s insatiable appetite, but what’s going to happen this Saturday when UFC 131 is all said and done?

On behalf of myself, I present to you the answer to that daring question.

In my own poetic manner, I present to you 10 truths of what to expect to go down at UFC 131!

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

UFC 131 Shane Carwin vs Junior dos Santos

Bleacher Report’s J.P. Smith polls the Bleacher Report MMA Staff on UFC 131:

UFC 131: Junior dos Santos vs Shane Carwin

Bleacher Report’s Blake Dreisbach:

UFC 131 Shane Carwin vs Junior dos Santos

Bleacher Report’s Bryan Levick:

Some are calling this version of Carwin, Shane Carwin 2.0. This Carwin may be new and improved both physically and mentally due everything he has gone through since suffering his first loss to former UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar at UFC 116 last July.

He underwent surgery to repair a neck injury which forced him to pull out of a bout with Roy Nelson at UFC 125. Now that he is healed physically it is time to see how he reacts after suffering his first career loss. It was an especially damaging loss considering how close Carwin came to finishing Lesnar off in the first round.

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

They say a fighter learns more from his losses than he does from his wins and if that philosophy rings true then we can expect an even more dangerous Carwin than we have seen in the past. A powerful puncher, an outstanding wrestler and one of the more intelligent fighters in the business, Carwin will give Junior Dos Santos all he can handle and may find himself opposite current UFC Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez sometime this year.

I have had the opportunity to speak with Carwin on a few different occasions and he is a humble, down to earth gentleman who puts his family first. He still works a full time job as an engineer at a local water authority. Carwin takes great pride in the relationship he has with his fans whom call themselves the “Carwin Army”

Bryan Levick: How are you feeling physically and mentally going into your bout with Junior Dos Santos? How has your body held up to the surgery you had?

Click here to read the entire interview:

UFC 131 Junior dos Santos vs Shane Carwin: Is JDS the next UFC Champion

Bleacher Report’s Sal DeRose:

At UFC 131, Junior dos Santos is set to face Shane Carwin in a heavyweight bout that will determine the No. 1 contender for the UFC heavyweight title.

Cain Velasquez awaits the two fighters and is a tough test for either one of them. At the age of 26, is Junior dos Santos destined to overtake Velasquez or eventually take over the UFC throne?

Dos Santos has come into the UFC and picked apart each fighter he has faced with his devastating striking ability, beating the likes of Roy Nelson, Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic, Gabriel Gonzaga and Fabricio Werdum.

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

The brown belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, dos Santos has yet to showcase his ground game and it could be his one key weakness in his game. But who knows how good he really is on the ground? Yes, we haven’t seen it yet, but it could be great for all we know. It could also be very bad.

Dos Santos, though, has made it this far with his striking, and for a heavyweight, is a very athletic fighter. 

Eventually I see dos Santos as a champion, and he could be the best threat to Velasquez’s throne. If we knew what dos Santos’ ground game looked like, I could say how good of a chance he has. But, if the fight stays standing I think he has the ability to beat the likes of Velasquez.

Since we don’t know about his ground game, though, I think Velasquez could use his All-American wrestling to control dos Santos on the ground and win a decision victory, or get into full mount and ground-and-pound dos Santos.

Click below to read the entire article.

“Be prepared to see me with my hands raised. I’ll defeat Demian Maia,” was quoted in the VancouverSun.com. If Maia is going to fulfill his prophecy he is going to stay off the ground.

Maia was quoted in the above linked article: “Of course, I always prefer to take the fight to the ground. It’s safer for me, it’s my area. It’s the fight that I’d like to do so I always try taking guys down.”

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

His confidence in his ground game is certainly not unfounded. Maia won the Abu Dhabi Combat Club Submission Wrestling Championship in 2007 with his strong and versatile grappling skills.

Maia is hoping a victory will give him a shot at the UFC middleweight title.

Muñoz, however, is no stranger to ground fighting:

I’ve got great guys I’ve been working with that I’m able to fit arm bars and triangles… so I’m seeing it all the time. I feel good about my ground game.

Munoz honed his ground game as a NCAA Division-I wrestler. You don’t get nicknamed “The Filipino Wrecking Machine” for nothing. 

—Richard Langford