After a 10-month layoff, Junior Dos Santos returned to the octagon with a dominant unanimous decision win at UFC 131 over Shane Carwin, who stood bloodied and battered after three rounds.
Dos Santos’ stand-up skill was never in doubt, but the question coming into UFC 131 was whether Dos Santos could withstand Carwin’s wrestling, and if Dos Santos could avoid the famously heavy hands of the former UFC interim heavyweight champion. Dos Santos responded by out-boxing Carwin and neutralizing Carwin’s grappling at every turn, proving that he is unquestionably the No. 1 contender to Cain Velasquez’s UFC heavyweight crown.
Carwin never wanted to duel the Brazilian in a technical striking battle. He needed to either land one of his signature haymakers, or employ his wrestling skills to defeat Dos Santos. But Carwin struggled to close the gap on Dos Santos, leaving him unable to implement his game plan.
Although Carwin is a former All-American wrestler, he hadn’t put his skills on display in the UFC before meeting Dos Santos. But Carwin came out shooting for a takedown right away. However, Dos Santos’ wrestling defense was equal to the task, and even when he wasn’t able to stuff Carwin’s takedowns, Dos Santos found a way to stand up quickly and retake the center of the octagon. The grappling ability of Dos Santos had gone largely untested in the UFC, but the No. 1 contender showed his well-rounded MMA skill set against Carwin.
“I have a ground game,” said Dos Santos after the fight. “I train with good guys. Of course I’m not like Demian Maia and Rodrigo Nogueira, but I’m tough on the ground, too.”
Junior’s grappling in the stand-up was good, too. Early in the fight, Carwin had Dos Santos pinned against the cage. It was a flashback to Carwin’s KO win against Frank Mir, but unlike Mir, Dos Santos was able to spin away, avoid damage and retake the center of the octagon. Carwin never got that big shot off.
From there Dos Santos took very few risks and picked Carwin apart with his superior boxing. Even once he had clearly outclassed Carwin in the stand-up, laying a vicious first-round beating on the Colorado native, Dos Santos never looked for a finish, but rather busted Carwin up by landing jabs at will, and throwing in the odd combination for good measure.
“I did a lot of jabs tonight because it’s a little more safe for me. He hits hard and I have to respect that,” said Dos Santos, explaining his cautious approach.
There was a moment when referee Herb Dean seemed to consider stopping the fight. In the first round, Carwin was on all fours against the fence while Dos Santos rained down a series of punches. Dos Santos even turned to Dean, requesting a stoppage, but the ref indicated that Carwin was still defending himself and that the fight would continue.
“I think it was the right decision because you saw [Carwin] stand up and keep fighting with me,” said Dos Santos after the fight.
Carwin managed to land one big punch in the second round that seemed to stun Dos Santos, but even then Dos Santos’ path to victory was never in doubt.
Although the disparity in the level of stand-up technique was the story of Saturday’s main event, Dos Santos switched things up a bitin the third round. He shot in for some takedowns of his own, landing them easily on a depleted Carwin and cruising to a victory.
For Carwin, the fight must have been a bit of a moral victory in spite of the loss. In his fight against Brock Lesnar, he was completely gassed after one round, whereas he kept moving and engaging through three rounds with Dos Santos. Carwin reduced his walking weight down by about 25 pounds since his last fight, and consequently didn’t have to cut any weight for Saturday’s battle, a decision that clearly made a difference to his improved cardio.
There was another defining moment for Carwin. Late in the third round, Dean called timeout to bring a doctor in to look at Carwin’s badly cut and swollen face. Carwin looked a mess, but the doctor deemed him fit to continue fighting. As the doctor left the ring, Carwin raised his fist over his head, signaling to the crowd that he was game to finish the fight. It was a rousing display of heart.
Dos Santos now will go on to face Velasquez sometime in the fall for the UFC title. His style of beating up his opponent in the first round and then sitting back, like he did against both Carwin at UFC 131 and Roy Nelson in his previous fight, isn’t likely to cut it against an aggressive champion who trains for five-round fights.
“I think my biggest challenge is coming because Cain Velasquez is the champion and he has proved he deserves that,” said Dos Santos. “The best of Cain is his cardio. He’s very good in wrestling, too. I’m learning wrestling very fast, so I will try to make defense of his takedowns. I always look for the knockout, and it’s not going to be different [in that fight].”
In the co-main event at UFC 131, veteran Kenny Florian made his featherweight debut, defeating Diego Nunes by unanimous decision. It was uncertain whether the drastic cut to 145 pounds would affect Florian, but he fought with the same energy UFC fans have come to expect of the “Ultimate Fighter” finalist.
“I felt good out there,” said Florian. “I got stronger as the fight went on. I was able to outlast him. I felt he was getting tired. I felt really good.”
Although the quickness of Nunes challenged Florian, when the fight went to the ground, Florian’s size and strength took over.
Just like Dos Santos, Florian’s win makes him a No. 1 contender to a world title. UFC president Dana White confirmed that a fight between Florian and featherweight champ Jose Aldo is “more than likely.”
