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Round One: Cain Velasquez’s Next Challengers Is…
Junior Dos Santos, who put on a striking clinic for fifteen minutes and showed why he is the biggest threat to the championship. A lot of credit must also be given to Shane Carwin, who took the opponent change after Brock Lesnar pulled out of the fight many weeks back. Junior Dos Santos now has a decent wait in front of him until current UFC Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez completes rehab. Hopefully the top contender will be smart and wait this time, instead of risking that contender status in another fight.
Next Round For Junior Dos Santos: Cain Velasquez
Next Round For Shane Carwin: Travis Browne or Dave Herman
Round Two: Jose Aldo Now Has Another Threat To The Title
One has got to hand it to Kenny Florian, making UFC history by being the first fighter to compete in four different weight classes. Kenny Florian made a successful debut in the UFC Featherweight Division on Saturday Night by defeating Diego Nunes. Kenny Florian did get caught a few times in the fight, but displayed better wrestling skills to wind up with the victory. Diego Nunes still has a title shot in the future, he just needs to work on a few things inside the cage for it to become a reality.
Next Round For Kenny Florian: UFC Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo or Chad Mendes
Next Round For Diego Nunes: Rani Yahya/Chad Mendes loser
Round Three: Something’s Different About Damian?
Even in defeat, people noticed a very different Damian Maia on Saturday Night when it came to his striking, which was how well it had improved. Even with the improvements though, Damian Maia still felt defeat at the hands of Mark Munoz via decision. Mark Munoz now finds himself on the verge of a potential UFC Middleweight Title opportunity against Anderson Silva. If Damian Maia can continue to add the improving striking game to his skill set, I would not be surprised to see him get another title shot in the future.
Next Round For Mark Munoz: Brian Stann or Ed Herman
Next Round For Damian Maia: Alan Belcher, Jorge Santiago or Aaron Simpson
Round Four: Two Other Heavyweight’s To Be Looked At
Originally Dave Herman was set to fight on the preliminary card against Joey Beltran and Jon Olav-Einemo was to face Shane Carwin in the co-main event. Due to some injuries and card changes, these two fighters got to face off against each other in their UFC debuts. This fight turned out to be the best slugfest of the night and it turned Dave Herman, the winner, into an instant star. Still not bad for Jon Olav-Einemo, who returned to professional MMA after a five year plus break from the sport.
Next Round For Dave Herman: Joey Beltran or Travis Browne
Next Round For Jon Olav-Einemo: Shane Carwin or Stefan Struve
Round Five: A “Spike†In The Action
Spike TV may not be the home of the UFC after the year is over, but the two fights that aired on Saturday Night were fun to watch. Chris Weidman kept his mediocre rise to the top alive by submitting Jesse Bongfeldt with a standing guillotine. The headliner was a battle between Sam Stout and the surging Yves Edwards, who was out on his back when it was all over. The knockout of Yves Edwards was so good that it was featured on Sportscenters “Top 10†the following Monday.
Next Round For Sam Stout: Takanori Gomi or Donald Cerrone
Next Round For Chris Weidman: Jorge Rivera or Mario Miranda
Next Round For Yves Edwards: Vagner Rocha or Bart Palaszewski
Next Round For Jesse Bongfeldt: A UFC release
You can contact David Tees at bigteesps3@yahoo.com
