Larry Brown Sports

Cain Velasquez thoroughly dominated Junior dos Santos at UFC 155 in Las Vegas on Saturday to regain the UFC heavyweight championship in a unanimous decision, but he apparently inflicted less pain on his opponent than initially believed.

Velasquez rocked JDS early in the fight and pretty much cruised thereafter. Many people felt like Cain could have attempted to finish dos Santos, but Velasquez was content to continue administering punishment while wearing out the Brazilian. There was even speculation following the fight that Velasquez broke dos Santos’ jaw.

Dos Santos went to the hospital immediately after the fight, and UFC boss Dana White said he had heard the former champ broke his jaw in the second round. It turns out that claim was unfounded.

Yahoo! Sports’ Kevin Iole reported after the fight that a rep for dos Santos says the Brazilian did not have any injuries and that he was not even in pain. FOX Sports’ A.J. Perez also says dos Santos was discharged from the hospital without any injuries.

Though dos Santos may have avoided serious injury, he will likely be handed a lengthy suspension from the athletic commission to allow time to heal. After that, the question becomes whom will he fight next?

White said after the fight that Cigano likely will fight once before receiving another shot at the title. If Velasquez still is the heavyweight champion at that time, it would be the third fight in what is shaping up as an awesome trilogy between them. No UFC heavyweight champion has successfully defended the title more than twice.

Junior dos Santos isn’t letting the holidays interfere with his preparation for his upcoming fight with Cain Velasquez at UFC 155 on Saturday. The current UFC heavyweight champion says he is postponing his celebration of Christmas until after the fight.

“I will spend Christmas focused,” dos Santos told UOL’s NaGradedoMMA (via Fighters Only). “It has already happened before and I’ve previously fought on holiday periods. It’s no problem. This is the moment to keep the focus and really think of how this fight will go. The preparation has been ongoing very well and I will get well prepared in the day of the fight.

“Honestly I will be traveling in Christmas. I will get there and this is going to be a normal fight week. My Christmas will be afterwards. When I win the bout, I will celebrate the title, Christmas and New Year.”

Dos Santos has won 10 fights in a row and is looking to defend his title for the second time since winning it in a first-round knockout of Velasquez last November.

The 28-year-old Brazilian certainly has the right mindset heading into the fight, but we think he’ll lose the title back to Velasquez now that Cain is healthy. JDS is listed as a slight favorite in the fight.

Glove touch to Bloody Elbow

Alistair Overeem hasn’t fought since beating Brock Lesnar at UFC 141 last December. The former Strikeforce heavyweight champ tested positive for elevated levels of testosterone prior to his scheduled May fight against UFC heavyweight champ Junior dos Santos and was replaced. Overeem recently met with Dana White to patch things up after his positive test created a mess, and White said things went well.

Overeem might not be able to fight until late December, but he’s open to facing the top competition when he is cleared. He just doesn’t think dos Santos wants to face him.

“If they want me to go for the title, I’m going to be ready for that,” Overeem told MMA Junkie. “If they don’t, I’m also going to be ready.

“He can talk all he wants,” Overeem said of dos Santos. “I know he’s very happy that fight didn’t happen, and I know he’s afraid to fight me. He also knows that I’m the biggest threat out there to him. He knows when he fights me, there’s no escape from it.”

If dos Santos doesn’t want to fight Overeem, it’s for a legitimate reason: He thinks Overeem is a cheater. Dos Santos said as much a year ago and his suspicions were validated by Overeem’s positive test.

We know that dos Santos is willing to face opponents who he suspects is cheating, so he probably won’t shy away from facing Overeem. This comes down to Alistair just trying to get into JDS’ head.

I didn’t think Junior dos Santos could top his 64-second KO of Cain Velasquez for the UFC Heavyweight Championship on FOX Saturday, but the latest twist suggests he may have. Dos Santos won the fight despite being hobbled by a torn meniscus in his knee that reportedly had him on crutches 10 days prior to the bout. The injury is so bad dos Santos reportedly will have surgery.

According to fightline.com, “Brazilian journalist Marcelo Alonso appeared on The MMA Show with Mauro Ranallo and revealed that dos Santos has confirmed that he will go under the knife.”

Dos Santos’ doctor also said after the UFC on FOX show that his fighter would undergo surgery. Dos Santos wasn’t planning on going a full five rounds with Cain Velasquez because of the knee, and that could be a big reason why he went after Cain so hard early in the fight.

Additionally, it’s been far less reported that Cain Velasquez also fought with a knee injury. UFC commentator Joe Rogan says Velasquez hurt his knee in training and required a cortisone shot before the fight. Both men could have considered pulling out of the fight, but neither one wanted to give up such a huge opportunity.

As long as dos Santos recovers in time, he should be on schedule to face the Alistair Overeem-Brock Lesnar winner for the Heavyweight Championship.

This Saturday night, the Ultimate Fighting Championship will make its FOX network television debut with Cain Velasquez (9-0, 7-0 UFC) putting his heavyweight title on the line against the challenger, Junior Dos Santos (13-1, 7-0 UFC). It’s going to be a great night for fight fans as this event will finish an hour before Manny Pacquiao is set to square off against Juan Manuel Marquez.

It’s hard to imagine a more perfect match-up for the first fight in the historic, seven-year partnership between FOX and the UFC, as these are two very special fighters entering the primes of their careers. I will break the action down in terms of each fighters’ strengths, the unknowns heading into the fight and the match-up, specific to one another. Finally, I will predict a winner.

Strengths

Velasquez has made a name for himself through his world-class wrestling ability, his other-worldly work ethic and cardio, and a developing, technically-sound kickboxing game. He is well above-average in his quickness wrestling and an above-average athlete for a heavyweight. He has finished eight out of the nine fights in his career through ground and pound and striking.

Velasquez was a two-time All-American wrestler at Arizona State University and in the Octagon, he has man-handled the heavyweight division, demonstrating relentless take-downs, top control and ground and pound. His wrestling, in combination with his cardio, make him a bad match-up for any style of fighter because he can control whether the fight remains standing or on the ground. If he chooses to take the fight to the ground, he has almost no equal. He has used his wrestling to dominate Ben Rothwell and Cheick Kongo on the ground, and when he won the title against Brock Lesnar, he did so by keeping the fight standing.

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On Thursday the UFC announced in a conference call that Brock Lesnar was pulling out of his scheduled fight with Junior dos Santos because of his ongoing bout with diverticulitis. They also announced that Shane Carwin, who lost to Lesnar in July, would be the replacement fighter.

Before Carwin was named as the replacement, dos Santos had called out Lesnar by suggesting he did steroids and saying he has a weak chin. His confidence and comments haven’t stopped now that he has a new opponent.

According to Sherdog, dos Santos has already predicted victory. “It’s gonna be a great fight with tough blows from both sides,” dos Santos said. “I would say that it will end by knockout.”

Dos Santos did call Carwin an excellent fighter, but of course he still thinks he’ll win as any fighter should. Carwin was supposed to fight Roy Nelson on New Year’s but had to pull out because of neck pain that later required surgery. He hasn’t fought since losing to Lesnar in July, and he was in the news in August for being named in a steroids bust.

Carwin gave Lesnar all he could handle in their fight last summer and should be a challenge for dos Santos. Though it won’t generate the buzz and pay-per-view buys without Lesnar participating, this is a fairly even matchup that should be quite exciting. As of now I’ll go with Junior dos Santos to win it.

Brock Lesnar is battling diverticulitis again and has been forced to pull out of his scheduled June 11th fight against Junior dos Santos, the UFC announced Thursday. Shane Carwin will step in and replace Lesnar by taking on dos Santos.

On a conference call with the media, Lesnar said the diverticulitis is not as serious as last time when he was afflicted by a “mystery condition” and had to pull out of his November 2009 fight. But it impacted his training. The diverticulitis will not end Lesnar’s career, but he is seeking treatment for the intestinal condition. Lesnar said he was at Mayo Clinic for 14 hours on Wednesday and said his immune system has been run down.

Lesnar said he’s been dealing with symptoms the past three months and that the condition prevented him from properly preparing for a title fight. It was only a year and a half ago that Lesnar had to pull out of his UFC 106 fight against Shane Carwin. After undergoing surgery, Lesnar was able to return to the Octagon and face Carwin at UFC 113 in July, 2010.

The good news is that Brock should be able to recover from the condition and continue fighting. Also, the replacement fight is enticing as well — Shane Carwin vs. Junior dos Santos should be a fun battle. Dos Santos probably doesn’t have the same negative feeling towards Carwin as he did Lesnar, but these are two of the top heavyweights in the UFC.