UFC On Fox: Junior Dos Santos KOs Cain Velazquez
By David Avila
ANAHEIM-It was one and done for UFC heavyweight champion as Brazil’s
Junior Dos Santos violently wrested the UFC heavyweight championship from Cain
Velasquez to become the new UFC titleholder on Saturday.
The Ultimate Fighting Championship changed hands abruptly
before a nationally televised audience with challenger Dos Santos (14-1)
disappointing the mostly pro-Velasquez crowd at the sold out Honda Center with
the knockout win. Fox televised the event.
Velasquez (9-1) was making his first heavyweight title
defense since beating former champion Brock Lesnar in the same arena a year
ago. Injuries forced the Mexican-American mixed martial arts fighter to keep
from defending the title.
Dos Santos
had knocked out most of his opponents but was unable to stop former challenger
Shane Carwin in his last bout. For this fight he expected a knockout.
Velasquez met Dos Santos in the middle of the Octagon and
both exchanged punches and kicks with neither causing damage. Then a right hand
by Dos Santos seemed to clip Velasquez who retaliated and missed. They circled
a bit and both exchanged again with the Brazilian landing an overhand right
behind Velasquez’s ear. Down he went. Dos Santos
delivered six more blows to the fallen champion forcing referee John McCarthy
to stop the fight at 1:04 of round one.
“I have no words to say of what I’m feeling,” said Dos
Santos in tears. “Cain Velasquez was my toughest opponent for sure.”
Velasquez said that the punch disable his senses.
“He messed up my equilibrium. He’s got power,” Velasquez
said.
Dos Santos
admitted being tentative but ready despite injuries.
“I was not 100 percent for this fight so I was scared,” he
said.
Henderson
wins
Lightweight contenders Benson Henderson (15-2) and manic
paced Clay Guida (29-9) electrified the crowd with slugging, brutal knees to
the head and attempted submissions in a frenetic three round lightweight
matchup.
Henderson
took charge early with his knees to the head followed by withering punches that
stunned Guida but never slowed his attack. Though both tried for submission
holds throughout the bout neither could gain the upper hand very long.
After three high fueled rounds Henderson was judged the winner 30-27 twice and
29-28.
“He’s super hard to deal with,” said Henderson. “He has a high energetic pace.”
Guida didn’t contest the scoring.
Henderson
will now meet UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar for the title.
“Frankie Edgar, we got a date,” Henderson said.
Other bouts
Louisiana’s Dustin Poirer (11-1) out-smarted North Dakota’s
Pablo Garza (12-2) to force a submission at 1:32 of round two with a D’Arce
choke in the lightweight bout. “I took my time because he’s a very dangerous
and unpredictable fighter,” Poirer said.
Chicago’s
Ricardo “The Bully” Lamas (11-2) survived a guillotine choke by Palm Spring’s
Cub Swanson (15-5) to win by arm triangle at 2:16 of round two in a
featherweight clash. “It was very tight,” said Lamas of the choke by Swanson.
“I couldn’t breathe.” Lamas managed to turn things around and forced Swanson to
tap out.
Utah’s Damarques Johnson
(18-9) left hooked Atlanta’s
Clay Harvison (9-5) out of there in 1:34 of round one for a technical knockout
win in a welterweight fight. A left hook floored Harvison who paused to raise
his hands but the fight wasn’t stopped until Johnson fired another right. “I
thought it was over,” Johnson said.
San Francisco’s Darren
Uyenoyama (7-3) upset Japan’s
legendary Kid Yamamoto (18-5) and probably beat him twice to do it. In the
first round it looked like the Japanese fighter tapped out but it was
overlooked by the referee. Uyenoyama proceeded to dominate on the ground each
and every round despite running into a big left hand in the second round. Two
judges scored it 30-27 and one 30-26 for Uyenoyama making his UFC debut. “I
never would have imagined myself here 10 years ago,” he said.
Escondido’s Robert Peralta
(16-3) won by technical knockout over Virginia’s
Mackens Semerzier (8-3) at 1:54 of round three. An accidental collision of
heads floored Semerzier and Peralta kept pummeling the fallen fighter until the
fight was stopped by referee McCarthy.
Miami’s Alex Caceres (6-4)
began with a bang, landing every punch and kick in the MMA fight books against Fresno’s Cole
Escobedo(17-9) in a bantamweight fight. Reverse punches, flying kicks and
overall quickness proved a big factor in Escobedo’s win by unanimous decision
30-27 on all three cards.
Oregon’s Mike Pierce (13-4)
used a stiff jab and overhand rights to control the action against Minnesota’s Paul Bradley
(18-4) in a welterweight match to win by split decision after three rounds. One
judge scored it 29-28 for Bradley and the other two 30-27, 29-28 for Pierce.
San Antonio’s Aaron Rosa
(17-4) used his height and reach to beat Arizona’s
Matt Lucas (14-3) by unanimous decision in a light heavyweight bout. After
three rounds of punches and plus a point deduction for Lucas for losing his
mouth piece twice, all three judges scored it for Sosa 30-28, 30-26 twice.
