The UFC hit Las Vegas’ MGM Grand this past Saturday with a stacked heavyweight card which featured Junior Dos Santos’ first defence of his heavyweight title against submission specialist Frank Mir. Also featured on the all-heavyweight main card was former champion Cain Velasquez facing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva. Here are the highs and lows of this past weekend’s fights:
The Highs
Hard-hitting Brazilian Glover Texieira finally made his long-awaited UFC debut, which lasted only 1 minute and 53 seconds, as he dispatched the very durable Kyle Kingsbury with a lightning-fast arm triangle choke. Texieira has been projected for greatness by none other than UFC hall of famer Chuck Liddell, who trained with Glover at the training center “The Pit” a few years ago. Glover is well-rounded, with knockout power in either hand and a high-level ground game which led him to victory in two ADCC competitions. Whether or not Texieira reaches the upper echelon of the UFC remains to be seen, but he is certainly someone to keep an eye on.
Liverpudlian Paul Sass proved the haters wrong yet again when he faced Jacob Volkman in a lightweight bout. Sass only ever has one plan, but he always implements it perfectly. He takes the fight to the canvas by any means, and secures his signature triangle choke. At 23, Sass continues to improve, and as long as he continues to diversify his all-around striking game, I can see him eventually being one of the 10 top lightweights in the UFC. Next I would like to see him paired up against a powerful striker to see if Sass can hang on the feet.
AKA’s Cain Velasquez made his first appearance in the Octagon since losing his belt to Junior Dos Santos when he faced off against Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva in Saturday’s co-main event. Velasquez looked simply amazing — after securing a early takedown, violence ensued, as he let off a barrage of Fedor-esque ground-and-pound that left Silva’s head squirting blood. With this victory, Velasquez secured himself a rematch against Junior Dos Santos, and I predict that Velasquez will avenge his lone defeat.
Junior Dos Santos did what most expected and delivered a TKO of Frank Mir. Franks confidence seemed to wane after he failed a single leg takedown. Slowly Junior got his range and let his hands go, leaving Mir in a daze on the canvas in the 2nd round. JDS has proven himself to be perhaps the greatest heavyweight in UFC history, and if he can defeat Cain Velasquez in their rematch, he will cement this.
The Lows
Former “Bully Beatdown” host Jason “Mayhem” Miller faced off against CB Dollaway in a middleweight affair on Saturday, and yet again Mayhem failed to impress. After his awful performance against Michael Bisping last year, he vowed to come back as a new and improved fighter. He was very disrespectful to Dollaway in the buildup to this fight, but yet again Miller didn’t live up to his trash talking, and was defeated soundly. After a post-fight row with a member of the UFC staff he was cut from the organisation. All in all, UFC 146 was probably the best card of the year so far, and the performance of “Mayhem” Miller was its only low.
