Junior dos Santos continues to make Ultimate Fighting Championship?s heavyweight division his personal playground.
The reigning UFC champion looked as untouchable as ever on Saturday night, dominating future UFC Hall-of-Famer Frank Mir at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Dos Santos nearly finished the two-time champion in the first round and wasted little time in the second getting the job done, earning a TKO victory at 3:04 of Round 2 in the main event of UFC 146.
?I?m feeling awesome, man. Awesome. It?s amazing. Not bad for a nice guy,? said dos Santos (15-1), recognized universally as perhaps the classiest fighter in UFC, which was why his pre-fight comments questioning the heart of Mir garnered so much attention.
Neither did much damage in the first round until the final 20 seconds, when dos Santos landed a right hand to the temple and threw a flurry of fists that nearly finished Mir. The former champ was wobbled and swung at the air at one point, barely surviving until the horn.
?This guy can take a punch. My hand is hurt,? said dos Santos, who improved to a perfect 9-0 since joining UFC in 2008.
Though Mir made it through the first five minutes, he didn?t last much longer. The end came when dos Santos landed a straight right hand that sent Mir crashing to the mat. Not wanting to follow Mir to the ground, where Mir?s strong submission skills could be used, dos Santos backed away and insisted Mir stand up. When Mir wobbled and was unable to get to his feet, referee Herb Dean called a stop to the match.
?He?s the champ. He?s fast. I couldn?t get out of the way. He hit me hard. Too many of them and they were all hard shots,? said Mir (16-6).
?Eventually they built up and I couldn?t do nothing about it ? He?s a very dangerous guy.?
Saturday?s main event pitted the hardest-hitting heavyweight ? dos Santos ? against perhaps the greatest submission heavyweight in the sport?s history ? Mir. Dos Santos has now claimed 11 of his 15 victories by knockout, including his win over Cain Velasquez last November to become champion. Mir, meanwhile, has a UFC record-tying eight submission victories to his credit, the last coming in December when he broke the arm of legend Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, the idol and mentor of dos Santos.
Mir said he knew dos Santos would be difficult to get to the mat using wrestling takedowns, so he tried a foot lock early in an attempt to force a scramble. When that didn?t work, Mir had to play dos Santos?s game.
?I didn?t want a boxing match with him. He just forced me into it. I couldn?t get him down,? conceded Mir, who was attempting to join Randy Couture as the only three-time UFC heavyweight champions.
He won his first belt in 2004, snapping the arm of Tim Sylvia, and then claimed the interim title in 2008, beating Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.
In the rematch against Nogueira last December at UFC 140 in Toronto, Mir snapped the arm of the legendary Brazilian ? and idol of dos Santos. The champion insisted before and after Saturday?s contest that he wasn?t entering UFC 146 seeking revenge for his fallen friend.
?That fight is between them. I don?t care about that,? said dos Santos.
?Of course, I respect so much my mentor. But I came here to defend my belt and I did it.?
In other pay-per-view matches at UFC 146:
* Cain Velasquez wanted to make a statement as he returned for the first time since losing the UFC heavyweight title to Junior dos Santos last November. You can bet the division heard him loud and clear.
In one of the bloodiest matches in UFC history, Velasquez (10-1) beat and battered Antonio Silva (16-4) in the co-main event of the evening. Velasquez left the cage without a scratch on him, while Silva left vials of his blood on the mat. Velasquez took Silva to the mat mere seconds into the first round, busted him open with a left elbow over the right eye and never let up until the match was mercifully ended 3:36 into the first round.
After struggling with a shoulder and knee injury over the past two years, Velasquez says he?s healthy and anxious to once again show what he?s capable of.
?I feel good,? said Velasquez. ?It?s definitely a step in the right direction.?
* Roy Nelson (18-7) showed the one-punch knockout power he?s known for, landing an overhand right that spun Dave Herman (21-4) to the mat before the contest was stopped 51 seconds into the first round.
?My plan was to wrestle. My coaches had a different game plan, which was, ?Hit him in the face.? Guess it worked,? said Nelson, tongue firmly planted in cheek, as always. ?Now I'm going to Carl's Jr. and getting a western bacon cheeseburger.?
* Stipe Miocic (9-0) used his superior wrestling to set up the finish over Shane Del Rosario (11-1), busting up Del Rosario with an array of short elbows before the match was stopped at 3:14 of the second round.
* The match between submission expert Stefan Struve (28-5) and knockout artist Lavar Johnson (17-6) figured to end quickly, one way or the other. It was Struve who got the match into his wheelhouse, taking the bout to the mat and locking in an armbar that forced Johnson to tap at 1:05 of the first round in their pay-per-view opener.
?Everyone kept telling me I was going to get knocked out. I didn't want to give him a chance to do what he does best,? said Struve. ?The way he was holding me, I felt like I could get the armbar so I went for it.?
All five pay-per-view matches were contested in the heavyweight division, the first time UFC has promoted such a card.
In preliminary matches at UFC 146:
* Darren Elkins (15-2) overcame a slow start in the first round and earned a hard-fought unanimous decision over Diego Brandao (19-8) in a featherweight match. All three judges scored the bout 29-28.
?I got more of a confidence when I saw I could strike with him. I felt him gassing and my plan coming into this was to let him throw in the first round and slow it down in the second and third,? said Elkins.
* Jamie Varner (19-6-1, 2 NC), after 18 months in the sport?s minor leagues (including one retirement), took the fight on short notice and still defeated Brazilian Edson Barboza (10-1) with a first round TKO stoppage at 3:23.
"Hitting rock bottom definitely lit a fire in me. I was burnt out on fighting but I figured Michael Jordan retired a few times,? said Varner.
?I'm finding my way back and I'm happy to be here. It's surreal.?
* C.B. Dolloway (12-5-0) controlled Jason Miller (24-9-0) on the ground and earned a 29-28, 30-26, 29-28 unanimous decision victory.
?I knew I had to get in and get the takedown. I got caught a couple of times but I've been hit and hurt before,? said Dolloway. ?You have to find a way to recover and get the win and I was able to."
* Dan Hardy (23-10-0, 1 NC) ended a four-fight losing streak in fine fashion, knocking out Duane Ludwig (29-12-0) 3:51 into round one.
"It felt great out there. You can put all the work in and if it goes wrong for 15 minutes then none of it matters. I've had a bad run. I took some time off and then I changed everything - new team, new training,? said Hardy.
?When you connect with the right shot you know it?s over. I put my arms up in celebration a little prematurely but when he looked back up I wasn't going to let it slip away so I went in and got the finish.?
* Paul Sass (13-0) submitted Jacob Volkmann (14-3) 1:54 into their welterweight match.
"This is my biggest victory by far. I never get nervous for fights but today fighting in Las Vegas in the fight capital of the world at the MGM Grand I was definitely nervous,? said Sass.
* Making his highly-anticipated debut, Glover Teixeira (18-2) submitted Kyle Kingsbury (11-4, 1 NC) just 1:53 into their light heavyweight contest.
"A debut in the UFC feels like my debut in MMA. It was that exciting to me,? said Teixeira.
?I wanted (UFC president Dana White) to remember my fight, and me."
* Former World Extreme Cagefighting champion Mike Brown (26-8) earned a unanimous decision over Daniel Pineda (17-8) in a featherweight bout. All three judges scored the match 29-28.
"I feel good the job is done. There was nothing fancy out there but it?s another paycheck and another (win),? said Brown.
ddeibert@thestarphoenix.com
Twitter.com/davedeibert
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