Going into Saturday night's main event at UFC 131 in Vancouver, the general consensus was that Junior Dos Santos would have a fair bit of trouble against Shane Carwin. After all, Carwin did almost stop the former heavyweight kingpin, Brock Lesnar, before cardio issues caught up to him and Lesnar was able to secure a victory through an arm triangle choke. And Carwin did stop another former heavyweight champ, Frank Mir, with a devastating uppercut that dropped Mir. Many pundits were assured that between the 2 fighters, who have each 12 KO's in the first round, that once somebody dropped they were going to sleep. After the final bell, nobody did. But Carwin might as well have.
Through 15 minutes, Dos Santos showed his crisp boxing, dropping Carwin with heavy shots as the first round ended and leaving Carwin a bloody mess, as well as an unseen amount of wrestling skill, taking down Carwin in the 2nd and 3rd rounds, and cruised to a unanimous decision victory of 30-27 (twice) and 30-26. In doing so, the protege of Antoino Rodrigo "Minotauro" Noguiera secures his long awaited title shot against current Heavyweight kingpin, Cain Velasquez.
Next for Dos Santos : Cain Velasquez.
Next for Carwin : The back injury and the apparent steroid issues clearly had a effect on him. How about the "disappointing" Roy Nelson?
The co-main event saw Kenny Florian make his featherweight debut against 16-1 Diego Nunes. Nunes, who had endeared himself to fans earlier on in the week by wearing a Vancouver Canucks jersey to the weigh-ins, did a lot to frustrate the Massachusetts native, who was booed excessively, due to wearing the jersey of his hometown team (and Vancouver's adversary in the Stanley Cup finals) the Boston Bruins. Amid cheers of "Go Canucks Go" and "Florian Sucks", Nunes reversed a Florian takedown in the 1st and got the former 2 time title contender on the mat, as well as dropping Florian with a shot at the end of the 1st that had KenFlo reeling. In between, Florian used his strength and improved wrestling to dominate Nunes, and despite dropping Florian again in the 3rd before the bell, he was unable to sway the judges his way and lost via unanimous decision, scores of 29-28 (twice) and 30-27.
Next for Florian : a victory over current featherweight kingpin Jose Aldo is clearly a victory away. Either the winner of Hominick-Chan Sung Jung or Josh Grispi.
Next for Nunes : George Roop or Leonard Garcia.
Mark Munoz fought Demian Maia, and Maia came out with a vengeance, throwing several powerful shots and an improving standup game, having the former Oklahoma State wrestler Munoz wobbly a couple of times in the first round. Despite hurting Maia late, Munoz had a so-so first round and I thought the "Black House" product the opening round 10-9. The second stanza got off to a better start for the "Filipino Wrecking Machine", as he dropped Maia and nailed him with excessive shots to the leg, frustrating and fatiguing Maia and wearing him down. Though he went for a Darth Choke and gave his back to Maia, Munoz was able to scramble out and get to his feet, and his wrestling clearly wore on the former Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu world champ Maia, grinding out a victory through his escapes and his sheer dominance, by unanimous decision with scores of 29-28 (twice) and 30-27.
Next for Munoz : I had picked the upset. Though it will be a long time before he has a chance to catch a whiff of the big fight at middleweight. I say the winner of Mayhem Miller and Bisping.
Next for Maia : Great improvement on the standup, though he shied away from it as soon as he got in trouble. Brian Stann or a rematch with Chael Sonnen.
Sam Stout was able to weather an early takedown from veteran Yves Edwards and a heavy hook and responded with a huge shot that dropped Edwards and securing Knockout of the Night" bonus at just under the 4 minute mark of the opening round.
Next for Edwards : possible retirement?
Nex for Stout : He showed why they call him "Hands of Stone". Good thing too, because I was beginning to forget. A fight with Sean Sherk.
Honorable Mention : Stout's reaction to dropping Edwards was priceless. Not wanting to further injure him, he backed off as soon as he saw Edwards googly eyed. It also shows you why Herb Dean is the "best in the business" (a title I bestowed on him long before DW re-iterated it with comments at the post fight press conference) as he saw it as well. Munoz doing his "Stanky Leg" impression, I'm not sure what Maia hit him with but he did a shuffle. Chris Wiman's standing guillotine. The pro-Canuck crowd giving Florian nothing but disdain for representing his team. People, he's from Massachusetts, did you really expect him NOT to wear a Bruins jersey?
As for my picks, another clean sheet : 4-0. I've won 11 or 12 and it brings me to a impressive 26-16-2 for the year.
Until next time, fight fans!
No comments:
Post a Comment