Cain Velasquez said for weeks leading up to his UFC 166 main
event bout against Junior Dos Santos that this would be the end of
their rivalry and a third fight between the pair of heavyweight
behemoths would be the last.
The series was tied at one win a piece heading into Saturday
night with each fight ending emphatically, leaving no doubt who was
the winner. With a chance to cement his legacy as the greatest
heavyweight champion in UFC history, Velasquez wanted to leave no
doubt who was the best fighter in his trilogy with Dos Santos.
It didn't take long for
Velasquez to showcase his dominance tagging Dos
Santos with heavy shots throughout the first two frames of the
fight, punishing the Brazilian with relentless clinch work against
the cage and unloading a barrage of punches any time he tried to
breathe.
Dos Santos looked winded midway through the second round and
continuously backed up against the cage, which played directly into
Velasquez's hand where he controlled the clinch and muscled his
opponent around the Octagon.
In the third round, Velasquez, the former Arizona State wrestler from Yuma, smelled blood from an oxygen
deprived Dos Santos, and launched a monster punch that dropped his
foe to the mat. Velasquez followed him to the canvas looking to
pour on the damage, but Dos Santos scrambled and caught just enough
breathing room to get back to his feet.
It didn't get any better for him there as Velasquez was like a
hammer just pounding away at Dos Santos, each punch leaving a fist
imprint smothered in blood on his opponent's head. Referee Herb
Dean took a close look and almost stepped in to stop the fight, but
realizing that Dos Santos was still moving and not finished he let
the fight continue.
With his face covered in a crimson mask of his own blood, Dos
Santos tried valiantly to battle back but the pressure from
Velasquez was like a vice grip and he wasn't letting up until his
job was finished.
The doctors cleaned up Dos Santos as best they could while he
struggled to see anything out of his left eye. The Brazilian was
left with barely any vision and a mouth wide open begging for air
with each gasp.
By the fifth round, Velasquez was firmly in control, savagely
beating Dos Santos to the punch with each and every exchange. The
former champion tried to throw something back at Velasquez, but
with exhaustion setting in there just wasn't enough left in the
tank to do any kind of damage.
The writing was on the wall that Velasquez was on his way to
victory, but he didn't want the judges to have any say in his
second title defense. Velasquez stepped forward again and again,
and he clipped Dos Santos late in the fight and the Brazilian
couldn't handle any more.
Dos Santos dropped to his knees, hands laying in front of him as
Velasquez cracked down with a few more punches and Dean stepped in
to mercifully stop the carnage. A broken and bloody Dos Santos
stood and immediately grabbed Velasquez's arm, raising it to the
crowd and conceding the championship to the better man.
Velasquez (13-1) now ties the UFC record for most title defenses
in the heavyweight division with another impressive performance.
The former Arizona State wrestler has looked unstoppable in his
three fights since losing to Dos Santos in 2011, and the rest of
the division will have to put in some serious work to take that
title away from him.
The loss for Dos Santos (16-3) — and a second in a row to
Velasquez — means that he will have to climb back up the
ladder and hope for a change at the top of the division to get
another shot at the belt. With two lopsided defeats courtesy of
Velasquez, Dos Santos will now have to sit on the outside looking
in so long as the American Kickboxing Academy heavyweight holds
onto the UFC gold.
