UFC 131 Fight Card Features Kenny Florian Moving Down To Featherweight, Is A Title Shot In His Future?Kenny Florian makes his featherweight debut at UFC 131 against Diego Nunes. He has been a successful lightweight for years, but this move provides his…
UFC 131 Fight Card Features Kenny Florian Moving Down To Featherweight, Is A Title Shot In His Future?
Kenny Florian makes his featherweight debut at UFC 131 against Diego Nunes. He has been a successful lightweight for years, but this move provides his best chance to get into title contention. In fact, one win could very well set him up for a fight with Jose Aldo later on this year.
“I think if you look at what I’ve done at 155 and what I’ve done in my career, bringing the skills and the experience that I have … beating a guy in the top five in the world, yeah, I think that puts me in line for a shot right away,” Florian said recently during an interview on the Sherdog Radio Network’s “Beatdown” show. “Who knows? We’ll see. I think it definitely does.”
Florian has an advantage that a lot of fighters don’t have. Since he has been fighting for UFC for years, the organization is familiar with him as a fighter. This means that he won’t have to work as hard to impress the management in order to vault up to championship contender.
The lightweight division is so crowded with contenders right now that this move is the smartest thing that Florian could do. He is 35, which means he doesn’t have a lot of time left to compete at a high level.
If Florian is fortunate enough to come away from UFC 131, and he could thanks to terrific submission skills, he will be in the mix with Chad Mendes for a championship fight.
Given all that he has accomplished as a lightweight, there is no reason to think that he can’t win the featherweight championship if the opportunity should arise in the near future.
Weigh-ins for UFC 131 are kicking off today at 5 p.m. ET / 2 p.m. PT, at the Jack Poole Plaza in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Check out streaming video of the festivities after the jump, courtesy of the UFC. We’ll plug in the weight totals below the video player after things wrap up. How emaciated will Kenny Florian be at 145? Will Shane Carwin have the same beastly intimidation factor now that he’s slimmed down below the 265-pound limit? What does Vagner Rocha look like, anyway? All will be revealed…
Weigh-ins for UFC 131 are kicking off today at 5 p.m. ET / 2 p.m. PT, at the Jack Poole Plaza in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Check out streaming video of the festivities after the jump, courtesy of the UFC. We’ll plug in the weight totals below the video player after things wrap up. How emaciated will Kenny Florian be at 145? Will Shane Carwin have the same beastly intimidation factor now that he’s slimmed down below the 265-pound limit? What does Vagner Rocha look like, anyway? All will be revealed…
MAIN CARD
Junior dos Santos (239) vs. Shane Carwin (254)
Kenny Florian (146) vs. Diego Nunes (145)
Demian Maia (186) vs. Mark Munoz (186)
Jon Olav Einemo (261) vs. Dave Herman (233)
Donald Cerrone (155) vs. Vagner Rocha (155)
SPIKE TV PRELIMS LIVE
Jesse Bongfeldt (185) vs. Chris Weidman (186)
Yves Edwards (155) vs. Sam Stout (155)
FACEBOOK/YOUTUBE PRELIMS
Krzysztof Soszynski (205) vs. Mike Massenzio (201)
Nick Ring (185) vs. James Head (186)
Dustin Poirier (146) vs. Jason Young (145)
Joey Beltran (247) vs. Aaron Rosa (261)
Michihiro Omigawa (145) vs. Darren Elkins (145)
When people discuss who is best striker is in the UFC heavyweight division, many will say that Junior Dos Santos is that man. There is little reason to disagree, as Dos Santos has racked up 6 straight wins inside the Octagon with all but one fight endi…
When people discuss who is best striker is in the UFC heavyweight division, many will say that Junior Dos Santos is that man. There is little reason to disagree, as Dos Santos has racked up 6 straight wins inside the Octagon with all but one fight ending before the final bell due to his powerful striking.
His opponent at UFC 131 is Shane Carwin, who is also known for his powerful punches that have sent four of his five opponents in the UFC home in the first round. Carwin may not be known as a technical striker, but the results of what his hands can do cannot be disputed.
When I compare these two dominant strikers, I come to the conclusion that I have to give the advantage to Shane Carwin for a few reasons.
Dos Santos has exceptional power in both of his hands. “Cigano” has dropped Gilbert Yvel and Gabriel Gonzaga with hard left hook shots. He put Roy Nelson and Fabricio Werdum to the mat with the right uppercut. Though it would be wise to throw leg kicks, neither JDS or Carwin tend to use them.
Now where is the weakness that makes me believe that Carwin has the advantage?
It lies in his hand placement and the style of punches JDS throws against his opponents. Dos Santos comes in and drops his hands when he throws his punches, and the style of strikes he usually throws are wide and sometimes loopy shots.
The reason Carwin is so effective with his striking is that he throws very heavy straight punches. In all of his fights, with exception to the Frank Mir fight where he landed multiple uppercuts, he has knocked down all of his opponents with a straight right hand.
Dos Santos also has shown that during his fights, he has a very tall stance, which leaves his head and chin exposed. Though he has done a good job at getting his hands up from his chest, where he usually hangs them, he hasn’t fought any real type of boxing-style strikers.
Carwin, on the other hand, keeps his chin tucked near his chest, uses his shoulder as a shield to the right hook and his hands are up by his face. This enables Carwin to stay pretty defensive from all types of strikes but most importantly allows him to counter-strike quickly with those straight punches he throws.
What I have noticed in watching fights with Dos Santos is that his opponents have not been well versed in striking defense. Struve, Cro Cop, Yvel, and Gonzaga have all been susceptible to being knocked out. His most impressive knockout was against Fabricio Werdum, but it makes you wonder if he can knock out a well rounded striker, as he couldn’t put Nelson away.
Carwin has shown that whatever he touches seems to fall down quickly. It has resulted in multiple first round stoppages or some of the ugliest fetus position defense ever witnessed. The only real time he has been threatened on his feet was when he ate a huge shot from Gabriel Gonzaga only to rebound and knock out “Napao” seconds later on a counter punch.
With all of that being said, I fully expect Shane Carwin to win this matchup with Junior Dos Santos. I really believe that this fight will remain standing and that Carwin will not have to take the fight to the ground because of the many holes that Dos Santos has in his striking defense.
In addition to the power of Carwin, it seems like he has been very diligent with his cardio training as he will be well under the heavyweight limit of 265 pounds. So I fully expect to see the best version of Shane Carwin, who should be very hungry after being so close to winning the UFC Heavyweight Championship only to have the opportunity slip through his fingers.
UFC 131 Will Be Diego Nunes’ Moment To Show That He Deserves A Featherweight Title FightDiego Nunes is the great unknown on this UFC 131 card. He has a career record of 16-1, including a 5-1 mark between UFC and WEC. He will challenge Kenny Florian, th…
UFC 131 Will Be Diego Nunes’ Moment To Show That He Deserves A Featherweight Title Fight
Diego Nunes is the great unknown on this UFC 131 card. He has a career record of 16-1, including a 5-1 mark between UFC and WEC. He will challenge Kenny Florian, the lightweight star who is moving down to 145-pounds for the first time. Can he get into featherweight title contention with a win?
Talk about an under-the-radar contender. Nunes is hardly known by most fans despite a 16-1 record, including wins over top featherweights like Raphael Assuncao and Mike Brown.
The former WEC champion Brown was a fairly big-name opponent for Nunes, but he pales in name recognition to longtime UFC star Kenny Florian. If Nunes can beat Florian on Saturday, he vaults himself forward in a hurry. Everyone likes new contenders, and Nunes would clearly announce himself as such with a definitive win.
Nunes hasn’t had the most exciting fights recently, though, he has been successful the last three times that he has fought. He is going against one of the top-ranked lightweight fighters in the world. All of this is a recipe for a breakout performance.
With no clear contender for Jose Aldo in the featherweight division, Nunes has everything right there for the taking. This fight is the biggest opportunity that he has had in his professional career. If he wins, he will have earned a fight against the champion.
I would like to see him show a little more than he did in his first UFC fight against Mike Brown at UFC 125, at least something that would make me believe he could defeat Aldo. But with a win, it will be hard to keep him down any longer.
Filed under: UFCMMA Fighting has the UFC 131 weigh-in results from Friday’s pre-fight festivities at the Jack Poole Plaza in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Junior Dos Santos (239) and Shane Carwin (254) both made weight well below the heavyweigh…
MMA Fighting has the UFC 131 weigh-in results from Friday’s pre-fight festivities at the Jack Poole Plaza in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Junior Dos Santos (239) and Shane Carwin (254) both made weight well below the heavyweight limit. At 254 pounds, that’s the lightest Carwin has weighed as of late coming into a fight, as he’s been cutting down to 265.
Complete UFC 131 weigh-in results are after the jump.
The storyline going into Saturday’s pay-per-view is that both men are calling for knockout finishes.
“You’re going to get to see two of best heavyweights tomorrow and someone’s going to be knocked out,” Carwin told the crowd shortly after stepping off the scale. “And it’s not going to be me.”
When it was Dos Santos’ turn to address the audience, he also promised fireworks.
“Shane Carwin is a tough opponent for me and for sure someone is going to get knocked out tomorrow night,” Dos Santos said. “Don’t blink.”
The winner of Dos Santos-Carwin will receive a title shot against champ Cain Velasquez.
Kenny Florian, who drew a chorus of boos for wearing a Boston Bruins jersey to the stage, successfully made weight for his featherweight debut at 146 pounds. Beginning his UFC career back in 2005 as a middleweight, Florian will be fighting in his fourth different weight class come Saturday night.
Pay-Per-View Bouts
Junior Dos Santos (239) vs. Shane Carwin (254)
Kenny Florian (146) vs. Diego Nunes (145)
Demian Maia (186) vs. Mark Munoz (186)
Jon Olav Einemo (261) vs. Dave Herman (233)
Vagner Rocha (155) vs. Donald Cerrone (155)
Spike TV Preliminary Bouts
Sam Stout (155) vs. Yves Edwards (155)
Jesse Bongfeldt (185) vs. Chris Weidman (186)
Preliminary Bouts
Krzystof Soszynksi (205) vs. Mike Massenzio (201)
Nick Ring (185) vs. James Head (186)
Dustin Poirier (146) vs. Jason Young (145)
Joey Beltran (247) vs. Aaron Rosa (261)
Darren Elkins (145) vs. Michihiro Omigawa (145)
UFC 131 Results: MMA Legend Picks Shane CarwinUFC 131 will take place on Saturday, June 11 from Rogers Arena in Vancouver B.C. Healing the fight card will be a heavyweight tilt between two of the most feared strikers in the UFC’s heavyweight division, …
UFC 131 Results: MMA Legend Picks Shane Carwin
UFC 131 will take place on Saturday, June 11 from Rogers Arena in Vancouver B.C. Healing the fight card will be a heavyweight tilt between two of the most feared strikers in the UFC’s heavyweight division, Shane Carwin and Junior dos Santos.
Both fighters sport identical records of 12-1 and between them they have fought past the first round only three times in their careers.
It is probably safe to predict that this fight will not be going the three round distance.
UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture spoke to Affliction video and offered his opinion on UFC’s 131 main event.
Couture gives the nod to Carwin if he uses his wrestling, he then added, “If he plays around with Dos Santos in the striking game he’s (Dos Santos) is too sharp and he’ll win there.”
MMA Fighting has the