Dos Santos displays right stuff in win at UFC 146
After Frank Mir failed to get Junior dos Santos to the ground on an early takedown attempt, the two-time former champion looked like he might be in trouble.
Once Mir was stuck in dos Santos’ comfort zone, it was only a matter of time before the Brazilian would capture a victory.
“I didn’t want a boxing match with him,” Mir said. “He just forced me into it because I couldn’t get him down.”
Dos Santos retained the Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight belt with a second-round knockout of Mir in the main event of UFC 146 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Saturday night.
“When you believe so much in yourself and your performance, good things happen,” dos Santos said.
Mir was sent staggering to the mat by a dos Santos right hand midway through the second. Dos Santos followed him and landed several shots but backed away as Mir tried to grab hold and keep the fight on the ground.
As dos Santos retreated, Mir rolled to his back. The champion immediately lunged in and landed a clean shot to the Las Vegan’s head, and the fight was stopped at the 3:04 mark.
“My game plan is always to keep the fight on my feet and look for the knockout,” dos Santos said. “Frank Mir is very dangerous, especially when he takes you down. I tried to get him a little tired in the first round so I could knock him out in the second. That was my strategy, and thank God it worked.”
Mir barely survived a barrage in the final seconds of the first round as dos Santos had him dazed against the cage right before the bell.
“He’s the champ. He’s fast. I couldn’t get out of the way,” Mir said. “He hit me hard with too many of them.”
On a main card that featured all heavyweight fights, former champion Cain Velasquez made a strong case to get another shot at the belt with a dominant performance in a first-round knockout over Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva.
Velasquez put Silva on his back in the opening 10 seconds, and the only time the UFC newcomer got up was when the doctor was called in to check a nasty cut on his face.
When the fight resumed, Velasquez continued to pummel Silva with punches until the fight was mercifully stopped
3:36 into the opening round.
UFC president Dana White indicated at the postfight news conference that Velasquez would be the next challenger to dos Santos.
Las Vegan Roy Nelson made quick work of Dave Herman, stopping him with an overhand right after 51 seconds. Herman corkscrewed to the ground before Nelson followed up with one more right hand.
In a matchup of unbeaten prospects, Stipe Miocic stopped Shane del Rosario with a series of brutal elbows.
Del Rosario was impressive with his striking in the first round but appeared exhausted as he went back to his corner.
Miocic immediately utilized his wrestling in the second round. He took down del Rosario and opened a nasty gash over his eye, then continued to land elbows until the fight was stopped.
Stefan Struve made quick work of Lavar Johnson, pulling guard near the cage and slapping on an armbar to submit Johnson in 1:05.
Struve, 24, won his third straight fight and eighth overall in the UFC. Johnson was fighting three weeks after knocking out Pat Barry on the UFC on Fox 3 card.
Several upsets highlighted the preliminary card.
Former World Extreme Cagefighting champion Jamie Varner made his return from the regional circuit to knock out lightweight contender Edson Barboza in the first round, and Darren Elkins rebounded from a tough first round to win a decision over Diego Brandao.
Varner was more than a plus-400 underdog, while Elkins was more than
2-to-1 to beat Brandao.
Another underdog, C.B. Dollaway, failed to do much damage in defeating Jason “Mayhem” Miller by decision. Also, Las Vegan Dan Hardy snapped a four-fight losing streak with a first-round knockout of Duane Ludwig.
On the untelevised portion of the undercard, light heavyweight Glover Teixeira won his UFC debut with a first-round submission of Kyle Kingsbury.
Also, lightweight Paul Sass submitted Jacob Volkmann in the first round, and Mike Brown earned a unanimous decision over Daniel Pineda in a featherweight bout.
Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509. Follow him on Twitter: @adamhilllvrj.
