Junior Dos Santos, of Brazil, poses during the weigh-in for UFC 131 in Vancouver, B.C., on Friday June 10, 2011. Dos Santos will defeated Shane Carwin, of Denver, Colo., in the main event at UFC 131 Saturday, June 11 in Vancouver. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl DyckDARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
After a slew of injuries, the UFC heavyweight picture is finally in focus. Junior Dos Santos is the No. 1 contender. Champion Cain Velasquez awaits the hard-punching Brazilian.
But question marks remain over what's next for Shane Carwin and Brock Lesnar. And fans are left wondering whether the Velasquez-Dos Santos winner will ever meet Strikeforce's heavyweight tournament champion.
Dos Santos' emphatic win by decision over a battered and bloodied Carwin at UFC 131 restored some order to a division that had been in disarray of late.
It's back to the future after Saturday night.
Rewind to late 2009 and champion Lesnar is sidelined by diverticulitis. Carwin defeats former title-holder Frank Mir at UFC 111 in March 2010 to become interim champion in Lesnar's absence.
Lesnar returns and, after hanging on by a thread in the first round, rallies to submit Carwin in the second round of a unification bout at UFC 116 last July.
Carwin ends up on the shelf after undergoing neck surgery. Lesnar loses his title to Velasquez at UFC 121 in October.
Velasquez is slated to defend his title against Dos Santos at UFC 129 in April in Toronto but is derailed by shoulder surgery. So the UFC pits Dos Santos against Lesnar, first as coaches on "The Ultimate Fighter" and then in the cage, only to have Lesnar sidelined again by diverticulitis.
Carwin steps in for Lesnar, and loses to Dos Santos.
So we are back to where we started - almost. Velasquez (9-0) against Dos Santos (13-1) for the title, probably in November.
As it should be, says UFC president Dana White.
"Cain Velasquez, I believe, is the best heavyweight in the world right now," he told reporters after Saturday's fight.
And he sees Dos Santos as the top contender.
"I love this fight," he added. "I think this is a great fight."
Still he suggested Dos Santos work on all aspects of his game before meeting the champion.
"He said he was going to work on his boxing some more," White said. "Dude, you better start working on your kicks, your punches, because Cain Velasquez does everything, he's got cardio for days and the thing about Cain Velasquez is he's The Terminator, man. This guy keeps coming forward, he does not stop until he finishes you."
Dos Santos' crisp technical striking was the difference against Carwin. Good boxers work the distance against their opponents, slipping in and out of their range as needed. The idea is to hit and not get hit and Dos Santos further kept out of Carwin's wheelhouse by sticking out a stiff jab.
After stuffing a pair of takedown attempts from the 36-year-old Carwin in the first round, the six-four-four Brazilian found his range and put Carwin down with a right-left-right combo.
Just as Carwin beat on Lesnar in the first round of their fight, Dos Santos let loose. He threw more than 40 punches at his downed opponent, carving open his face and at one point - after tiring of hitting his foe - turned to ask referee Herb Dean whether he was going to stop it.
Dean, seeing Carwin was still moving - albeit sluggishly - in a bid to defend himself, let it go and Carwin (12-2) survived. It earned him 10 more minutes of abuse.
By the time it was over, Carwin's face was a bloody mask with a flap of skin hanging off over his eye. He looked like someone had taken a bat to his head.
"Shane is a tough guy," said Dos Santos.
Carwin's management company reported that their fighter had a broken nose, possible fractured cheekbone and three deep cuts. On the plus side, a CT scan showed no damage.
The 27-year-old Dos Santos looked virtually unmarked.
"I felt a little bit dizzy from just one punch from him," he said of Carwin, who has hands like cinder blocks. "I think he has the heaviest hands I ever felt."
White and Dos Santos both agreed with Dean's decision to let the contest continue during the first-round beatdown. Dean called the ringside doctor in to check Carwin's eye in the third round but the fight was allowed to continue when Carwin said he could still see.
"The best referee in the business," said White.
Still the UFC boss said he was glad the fight went three rounds - not five - the UFC is moving to five-round bouts in not-title main events down the line.
"He'd had enough punishment," White said of Carwin. "I wouldn't have wanted to see that fight go into the fourth round."
Dos Santos held an 88-20 edge in significant strikes (41-5 in the first round alone) and 104-22 in total, according to FightMetric. Some 84 of those were to Carwin's head.
The Brazilian was also good on both takedown attempts while Carwin, a former NCAA Division II champion wrestler, was good on just of three attempts.
It's hard to gauge what's next for Carwin, who was badly hurt going into the final two rounds. He showed great heart but little else, thanks to Dos Santos.
White, meanwhile, offered nothing positive about a UFC versus Strikeforce heavyweight showdown. While his company owns both promotions, he is unwilling to cannibalize Strikeforce and his hands are somewhat tied by its TV contract with Showtime in the U.S.
Other winners of note Saturday included lightweight Sam (Hands of Stone) Stout of London, Ont., Calgary middleweight Nick (The Promise) Ring, featherweight Kenny Florian, middleweight Chris (The All-American) Weidman and heavyweight Dave (Pee Wee) Herman.
Stout (18-6-1) won US$70,000 for knockout of the night, leaving veteran Yves Edwards senseless on his back with a savage left hook.
"It was one of the most vicious knockouts in UFC history," said White. "If not the most vicious."
Ring (12-0) used a gritty ground game to carve up, dominate and defeat newcomer James Head. It was a statement fight by Ring, who was perhaps given the benefit of the doubt by the judges in his last outing - a decision over Riki Fukuda at UFC 127.
Florian (16-5) also deserves kudos for his featherweight debut. He fought a smart fight to win a decision over highly touted Brazilian Diego (The Gun) Nunes.
Florian will "more than likely" meet featherweight champion Jose Aldo next, according to White.
The Boston native also added spice to the week with his Bruins ties.
"I saw a lot of middle fingers tonight," Florian said with a smile, joking he would need metal detectors at his after-party in Vancouver.
Weidman (6-0) impressed in a first-round win over Jesse (The Water) Bongfeldt of Kenora, Ont., forcing him to tap to a standing guillotine in the first round.
Weidman, who has had four knee surgeries, said his meniscus popped out during the fight. He got the US$70,000 submission of the night bonus.
Herman (21-1) rallied to stop Norwegian behemoth Jon Olav (The Viking) Einemo in a wild contest that earned both men US$70,000 for fight of the night.
Brazilian middleweight Demian Maia (14-3) lost a decision to Mark (The Filipino Wrecking Machine) Munoz but earned respect for his striking. The jiu-jitsu ace wobbled Munoz in the first round, showing his work with Dos Santos' boxing coach is paying off.
The UFC also deserves a thumbs up for an entertaining card before 14,685 at Rogers Arena.
White played it smart all week, defusing the Stanley Cup versus UFC mismatch in terms of fan interest by taking his hat off to hockey north of the border.
The UFC further showed it got it by inviting the Green Men to the show, placing them on prominent display in the first row.
One negative was the judging. White was so irked by the 29-28, 29-28, 30-27 decision in favour of Darren (The Damage) Elkins over Michiro Omigawa that he elected to pay the Japanese featherweight his win bonus.
Omigiwa, meanwhile, was so upset he had to be persuaded to leave the cage by matchmaker Joe Silva.
White was also irate that judge Nelson (Doc) Hamilton gave Munoz all three rounds.
"He should never judge another fight ever."
The show drew a gate of US$2.8 million.