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UFC 188: Cain Velasquez’s Loss Puts Junior Dos Santos Back in the Catbird Seat

While the loudest cheers no doubt came from Fabricio Werdum’s corner, the new UFC heavyweight champion’s extended entourage weren’t the only interested parties watching his fight with longtime champion Cain Velasquez at UFC 188 closely.
Sitting r…

Sitting ringside was Junior dos Santos, until now Velasquez’s greatest rival. And the Brazilian slugger was no doubt smiling from ear to ear when Werdum choked the champion out in the third round.

To most dos Santos is, at worst, the third-best heavyweight in the world. He’s beaten six of the big boys in the UFC’s top-15 rankings, most in spectacular fashion. In a perfect world, he’d have been the perfunctory top contender, just waiting word of the winner so he could properly prepare his training camp.

The problem, simply put, was Velasquez. The two men had already met three times in the Octagon. After dos Santos’ stunning knockout victory in the very first UFC fight broadcast on network television, Velasquez quickly went about setting the record straight. In the last two, Cain starched dos Santos in dominant performances, the kind of savage beatings that are hard to forget.

That made a title shot dubious so long as Velasquez held the belt. At the very least enough time would have to pass for memories to fade, if just slightly.

As a result, dos Santos became the world’s most unlikely Werdum fan in the days leading up to the fight. A Werdum title reign made a path to the championship far less circuitous. Unlike Velasquez, who seemingly has his number, dos Santos actually owns a win over the new champion. In an interview with Combate in Brazil (h/t Bloody Elbow), he made it all too clear he understood the stakes.

“If he wins, I think I’ll face him right away,” dos Santos said. “That would be a great rematch. If Cain wins, however, I will probably have to fight once or twice more. I hope Werdum wins. It would be great if the fight happened in Brazil. Two Brazilians fighting for the heavyweight title would be amazing for the country and for the sport.”

Although no official announcement has been made, it seems likely dos Santos’ all-Brazilian title dream will come true. In their first fight, dos Santos ended Werdum’s night, and his first UFC run, with a knockout of the night performance. A lot has changed in the seven years since that bout.

Werdum has reinvented his striking game and looks fresher than ever at 37. The younger man chronologically, dos Santos has aged noticeably thanks to his wars in the Octagon. It shapes up to be something pretty exciting—for dos Santos and fans happy to have an active champion on the throne.

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Cain Velasquez vs. Fabricio Werdum: What Went Wrong for the Fallen Champ?

Things did not go so well for Cain Velasquez at UFC 188. While the UFC constructed a card in Mexico City designed to showcase its heavyweight champion, Fabricio Werdum threw a wrench into its promotional plans by defeating Velasquez with an impressive …

It was a huge swerve for MMA fans.

While Werdum was always regarded as a game competitor, Velasquez’s elite wrestling and athleticism had many predicting a lengthy title reign. The surprise outcome leaves many asking, “What the heck went wrong?”

So why not dive into the fight and pinpoint the key areas where Velasquez struggled?

Shallow Gas Tank

At UFC 155, Velasquez faced Junior Dos Santos in an effort to retake the heavyweight title. That was the fight where Velasquez truly earned the goofy-but-fitting “Cardio Cain” nickname. The fight saw Velasquez deliver one of the most lopsided beatdowns in UFC history.

Even in Round 5, he had the energy to push, pull and drag Dos Santos around the cage on takedown attempts.

At UFC 188, however, Velasquez looked spent before the first horn sounded.

There are plenty of possible explanations for this. Competing at high altitudes without proper preparation certainly does suck the life out of fighters. Velasquez may have sustained an injury during training and tried to fight through it.

Werdum’s knees in the clinch are designed to shave minutes off opponents’ window of efficacy.

Either way, a tired Velasquez is a Velasquez who concedes his greatest strength. If his cardio doesn’t come back in a big way, don’t expect him to reinsert himself into the discussion of greatest heavyweights of all time.

Limited Wrestling Output

There is a uniquely effective symbiosis between Velasquez’s cardio, striking and wrestling.

His cardio allows him to oppressively smother opponents with his wrestling. His wrestling forces opponents to give up openings for his striking. His striking along the cage and on the ground wears down opponents, making his cardio advantage all the more obvious.

Something came out of whack, however, and the biggest, most obvious result was a lack of effective grappling from Velasquez.

Velasquez is traditionally a takedown machine, averaging a whopping 5.24 takedowns per 15 minutes. However, while he managed to take Werdum down four times, he didn’t land a single significant strike on the ground and only landed 26 percent of his strikes in the clinch.

That lack of potency was disastrous at every level. Even if Velasquez avoided getting finished by Werdum, he was looking at a back-and-forth slugfest that judges could have scored either way.

Not an ideal situation for a once-dominant heavyweight champ.

Sloppy Striking

The most accurate evaluation of a fighter’s skill set always comes after a long winning streak is capped with an emphatic loss. This loss to Werdum shined a light on Velasquez’s well-known Achilles’ heel: his striking.

Velasquez has more than a few knockouts to his name, but his actual boxing has never been technically brilliant. Wrestling, however, is a great equalizer.

While he was able to comfortably throw hands with a formidable striker in Dos Santos, his inability to threaten Werdum with takedowns resulted in an ugly, sloppy brawl where he absorbed a whopping 96 significant strikes.

With that in mind, it’s hard not to think back on how he was repeatedly wobbled by Cheick Kongo, how he has yet to really successfully engage with an above-average striker at range or how he was cleanly knocked out by Dos Santos.

Under ideal circumstances, he doesn’t have to stand and trade with anybody. This, however, was the first time we have seen Velasquez outside his comfort zone…and it did not look good.

Statistics courtesy of FightMetric.

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Fabricio Werdum: Can the Newly Minted Champ Make UFC Heavyweight History?

The UFC’s heavyweight title is an undomesticated beast.
The sport’s biggest, baddest fighters have tried to tame her, and again and again, they’ve failed.
When a heavyweight seizes the belt, it’s inevitable he will cough it up within two fights. That’s…

The UFC’s heavyweight title is an undomesticated beast.

The sport’s biggest, baddest fighters have tried to tame her, and again and again, they’ve failed.

When a heavyweight seizes the belt, it’s inevitable he will cough it up within two fights. That’s a fact. The most consecutive title defenses in UFC heavyweight history is two, a mark held by Cain Velasquez, Brock Lesnar, Randy Couture and Tim Sylvia.

Tim Sylvia.

Sorry, I just wanted to throw that name out there a second time to really hammer home the feral nature of the heavyweight strap.

Velasquez was the latest victim of the two-and-out curse, losing the title to Fabricio Werdum in an attempt to break the spell and notch his third consecutive defense on Saturday.

He couldn’t do it.

While shooting for a takedown on the Brazilian jiu-jitsu specialist, Velasquez found himself trapped in a guillotine, and the fight was done. In a flash, Velasquez tumbled back down the heavyweight mountain and handed over his precious title.

Now, Werdum looks to make history and chase the elusive three-peat in the heavyweight division. Title defenses No. 1 and No. 2 come first, of course, but right now, Werdum looks well positioned to perform the impossible.

His striking, once his downfall, is not only serviceable now—it’s elite. He’s battering opponents on the feet and leaving them with literally nowhere to go.

No heavyweight can hang with Werdum on the mat—save for perhaps Frank Mir and Josh Barnett, but they’re a bit out of the title picture—and it’s slowly looking like no heavyweight can strike with him, either.

But there are some takers who could make things interesting.

The most obvious choice to end Werdum’s reign before title defense No. 3 is Junior “Cigano” Dos Santos. Werdum previously lost to Dos Santos at UFC 90 via knockout and was subsequently cut from the promotion, so a rematch is intriguing on several levels.

Dos Santos’ hands are powerful and precise. Twelve of his 17 victories came via knockout, and the only man in the UFC to trouble him to date is Velasquez. With Velasquez now off the throne, Dos Santos could get another title shot and regain what was once his.

With that said, I do not favor Dos Santos in a rematch with Werdum.

Perhaps controversially, I think Werdum underestimated Dos Santos the first time around, and I also think Werdum has grown much more than Cigano since that first encounter.

Werdum’s striking still might not be as good as Dos Santos’, but it’s much better than it was when they previously fought in 2008. Dos Santos will no longer have a clear-cut advantage in the stand-up department.

Furthermore, Dos Santos’ losses to Velasquez shaved years off his fighting life. Since losing to Velasquez the second time, Dos Santos has competed only once, defeating Stipe Miocic via controversial decision. In that fight, he looked to have a lost a step or two from the time he ruled the heavyweight roost.

Werdum should handle him in a rematch.

After that, we’re likely looking at a rematch with Velasquez, a rematch with Andrei Arlovski, a fight with Ben Rothwell or a grudge match with Alistair Overeem for Werdum’s second title defense.

Each of those fighters presents unique challenges for the champ, but he should still be favored in all of those potential bouts.

Right now, it’s hard to picture anybody in the division defeating Werdum, but we’ve seen how that whole “unbeatable” story plays out too many times in this sport. Let’s not get carried away. Literally any of the challengers mentioned in this article could end Werdum’s reign in an instant.

Maybe it’s not likely, but if the heavyweight division has shown us anything, it’s that the only certainty is chaos—and chaos reigns in the big boys’ division.

Werdum can make UFC history by securing just three title defenses, and his skill set and current list of challengers say he’ll do it.

History, however, tells us he won’t.

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UFC 188: What We Learned, Loved and Loathed from Velasquez vs. Werdum

Another month, another UFC pay-per-view in the books.
The UFC returned to Mexico City on Saturday night, and this time it had its Mexican-American champion in tow. When the promotion left town, there was a new heavyweight champion: A Brazilian who is f…

Another month, another UFC pay-per-view in the books.

The UFC returned to Mexico City on Saturday night, and this time it had its Mexican-American champion in tow. When the promotion left town, there was a new heavyweight champion: A Brazilian who is fluent in multiple languages, was once cast aside by the UFC and then returned better than ever.

Here’s a look at what we learned, loved and absolutely loathed from UFC 188.

Learned: Altitude Is Not Your Friend

The most important thing we can take away from Saturday’s card is not that Cain Velasquez isn’t as good as we thought he was (he is still fearsomely good) or Fabricio Werdum is the greatest heavyweight of all time (he is not).

It’s that one camp made the smart decision to train at altitude, and that camp enjoyed success because of that decision.

Werdum spent his entire camp in the city he would eventually unify his championship in. Velasquez spent all but two weeks near sea level in San Jose, California.

The results were dramatic. The man known for having the best cardio in the entire sport was winded after the first round and absolutely exhausted in the second, making him easy pickings for Werdum.

If we learned anything from this fight, it’s this: training in the same conditions you’ll be fighting in? Yeah, that’s probably the most important thing you can do—particularly when the place you’ll be fighting is 7,500 feet above sea level.

Loved: Yair Rodriguez, Star in the Making

If Yair Rodriguez is the only talent to emerge from The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America, then it will have been well worth the cost.

Rodriguez, a long, lanky and charismatic man, stepped in the Octagon with Charles Rosa on Saturday and put on a show. He used a wide variety of attacks, and by the middle of the second round, it made you think, “Man, this guy fights a lot like Jon Jones or Anthony Pettis or someone else who uses creative striking to advance their game.”

He is clearly not Jones or Pettis at this point. He has many miles to go before he can be considered even an interesting potential contender.

But what he is right now is an intriguing prospect, and one with enough upside that Reebok snapped up him to an exclusive deal a month before the launch of the official UFC uniform.

It sees potential star power, and that star power is a very big deal for the UFC because the promotion is attempting to solidify Mexico as another strong international base. Velasquez lost on Saturday, but Rodriguez—even in a split-decision win—showed that he might be someone the UFC can attach itself to for years to come.

Loathed: Nate Marquardt‘s Total Lack of Desire to Fight

There was a moment somewhere in the second round in his fight against Kelvin Gastelum when Nate Marquardt—the former Pancrase middleweight champion and one-time UFC middleweight title challenger—gave up the ghost.

Whatever confidence he’d brought into the fight vanished from his face.

Instead of looking like the cool, calm and collected fighter we’ve seen throughout his long career, Marqardt looked like a man who wanted to be doing anything else than what he was supposed to be doing at that moment.

Then he flinched and dropped to his knees before rolling over on his back, and I couldn’t help but think to myself, “This is a man who does not want to fight anymore. The referee should stop this fight.” It was an act of timidity, and Mardquardt was essentially begging for the fight to be stopped.

A few moments later, his trainer Trevor Wittman did what Marquardt could not. His head hanging low, staring at the canvas, Marquardt was silent as Wittman called off the fight.

It was a courageous thing for Wittman, who likely would have done the same thing even if Marquardt hadn’t already essentially given up. That’s what a good corner man does: He watches out for the health and welfare of his fighter. He does not trade in macho verbal nonsense. When his fighter is incapable of continuing and perhaps cannot see it, he does it for him.

And now Wittman should take the next logical step.

If Marquardt insists on continuing his fighting career—and I would be surprised if, after what we saw on Saturday, the 36-year-old does anything of the sort—Wittman needs to halt him in his tracks.

On Saturday, we saw a ghostly shell of a man who was once a very good fighter. Marquardt has nothing left to prove and certainly nothing left to gain. It is time for him to call it a day.

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Henry Cejudo LOLs at Title Shot Talk After ‘Bad Taco’ Hampers UFC 188 Showing

Henry Cejudo put on a solid performance at UFC 188 opposite Chico Camus. Does the Olympic gold medalist in freestyle wrestling think that was good enough for a title shot, though? As the Internet would say, “LOLNO.” Speaking with the assembled media at the UFC 188 post-fight press conference, Cejudo heavily criticized his performance and laughed off questions about him being the top contender.

“I think I’m better than that. I love to mix it up with my feet, knees. I didn’t throw any of that. I pretty much just boxed,” he said (h/t MMAJunkie for the video and transcription). “That’s all I did. Because the more I moved, the more I felt fatigued.”

Indeed, Cejudo did not look as crisp as he did in his fights opposite Dustin Kimura and Chris Cariaso. The Messenger leaned heavily on his wrestling to pick up a unanimous-decision win over the seemingly overmatched Camus. Camus would successfully defend 14 of Cejudo’s 15 takedown attempts, according to FightMetric.com, but Cejudo’s clinch work ate up minutes on end, earning him the nod from all three judges.

What caused this relatively unimpressive performance? According to Cejudo, it was a rough weight cut caused by illness from eating a bad taco.

“The reason I came in so low, man, I believe it was food poisoning,” he said. “If you guys noticed me at the weigh-ins, I was pale white. It was difficult for me, but I still pulled it through.”

Cejudo did not look especially healthy at the weigh-ins, but that is far from unusual for him. The 28-year-old has a long history of missing weight (detailed here by CagePotato.com), and he withdrew from what was supposed to be his UFC debut at UFC 177. That said, Cejudo has successfully made weight in his three UFC bouts since then and came in at 125 pounds on the nose at UFC 188.

While there was some discussion as to whether or not Cejudo would get a shot at dominant flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson with a win, the performance casts doubt as to whether or not he would be ready for such a fight. Johnson has almost effortlessly dispatched elite veterans and hot youngsters alike, defending his belt six times while finishing four of his challengers.

At one point, Cejudo’s rapid development made it feel like he could reasonably contend for the UFC title with just three fights in the promotion. Beating Camus by anything less than lopsided thrashing, however, gave proponents a much-needed reality check when it comes to Cejudo’s place in the division.

Not only that, but the flyweight division is not hurting for contenders at the moment. John Dodson has done strong work building up a potential rematch both in and out of the cage. Old foe Joseph Benavidez is currently riding a three-fight winning streak. Jussier da Silva has solidified his place as a top-10 flyweight after struggling through his first three fights.

Cejudo’s future remains incredibly bright. The time to discuss him as a contender, as he said, is not today.

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Yair Rodriguez: I Had ‘Less’ Than $400 Before UFC 188

Yair Rodriguez stepped into the cage on Saturday night with only five professional fights and less than $400 to his name. Standing across from him was Charles Rosa, one of the most intriguing prospects in the featherweight division.
Looking across the …

Looking across the open sea of Octagon canvas, Rodriguez saw opportunity where most see fear. He was competing on the main card of UFC 188, a pay-per-view card in Mexico City headlined by Cain Velasquez. With bright lights, cameras and celebrities in his peripheral, Rodriguez stormed forward like a seasoned veteran looking to steal the show.

The MMA world soon learned what all the buzz surrounding The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America winner was about. The rising 22-year-old star looked like he was in The Matrix, wowing fans with jumping switch kicks and an aggressive closed guard.

Rosa appeared to be outmatched technically in all areas of the fight. On his feet, Rodriguez kept Rosa guessing with feints and switch-striking. When the fight hit the ground, Rosa looked like he was tangling with an octopus with all of the guard movement and submission attempts.

This isn’t to say Rosa didn’t have his moments. He hung tough in the stand-up exchanges and even managed to ride out a bit of the clock in control on the ground. It was a close fight that ended up earning Fight of the Night honors. Rosa’s toughness convinced one judge to score the fight in his favor, but the other two judges saw the fight in favor of Rodriguez.

Rodriguez walked away with a $50,000 bonus and a win over a highly respected opponent in his home country. It was not a bad way to end a weekend that began with less than $400 in his pocket, according to a post-fight interview with MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani:

I think less [than $400] bro. It means so much for me bro. I’ve been working hard. My last fight was in November. It’s a long time to fight this fight, but I’m so proud that I could be here and that means so much for me. That just Dana White just called me to talk with me and say, “That was a great fight.” And I’m just so happy. I’m going to keep moving forward and keep training hard.

There was a lot to like about Rodriguez’s performance, especially when considering he hasn’t even scratched the surface of his prime skills yet. UFC commentator Joe Rogan even threw out comparisons to Jon Jones and Anthony Pettis.

While it’s a little early to be doling out those kinds of compliments, there is indeed something special about Rodriguez. Perhaps we unknowingly witnessed a preview of the featherweight division’s next breakout star.

Jordy McElroy is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He also is the MMA writer for FanRag Sports and co-founder of The MMA Bros.

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