My thoughts on Velasquez vs Dos Santos Bout

Cain Velasquez will defend his UFC Heavyweight Title against Junior Dos Santos on Fox this Saturday. I think there will be fireworks, but I don't consider either guy to be the elite striker a lot of others do. 






Cain took out Brock Lesnar and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, but Brock has bad striking defense and Big Nog has taken so much abuse over the years that it's hard to think of him as elite anymore. 


Dos Santos had to go to decision with both Roy Nelson and Shane Carwin, both of whom have bad cardio. I know Nelson has good cardio for a man his size, but come on.

I never seen him smile outside the ring.

I don't think there's any way that you could put Cain or Junior in the same striking category as Anderon Silva or Jon Jones. I don't mean that as an insult to either guy, I just keep hearing people talk about how great these guys are at striking. They're good for heavyweights, but they pale in comparison to good strikers in other divisions.

Having said all this, I do expect there to be a knockout stoppage of some sort, likely the ref jumping in to end the fight. I think Dos Santos is the better fighter, and that he'll get the victory. It's an interesting fight because Cain is a good wrestler and boxer while Dos Santos is a good Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fighter and boxer. The commonality there is boxing, and I think Dos Santos is a better boxer. Cain could take Dos Santos down, but then he might get submitted. I think this fight stays on the feet, and Dos Santos gets the win.

It won't surprise me if Cain gets the win, I think he's a very good fighter. The only way this fight would surprise me is if it goes to decision, then I would be stunned speechless. If this fight goes past two rounds, I will be very surprised.

The UFC chose this fight for a number of reasons. One, it's a title fight. Two, there are some fools out there who still dismiss the lighter divisions as being inferior to the heavyweight division, thus, a heavyweight title fight is seen as ideal in those peoples eyes. Three, this is an excellent way to introduce the UFC to new fans in as good a way as possible. This fight is essentially guaranteed to be exciting. This also ups the profile of both Cain and Junior.

All those reasons add up to the UFC making a good choice with this fight being the one to headline their first FOX show. I'll be watching, and I suspect millions more will be watching as well.

Saturday Nov. 12th on FOX 

FRIENDS NO MORE: Evans accepts immediate title shot against Jones (UFC)

UFC president Dana White has long believed friendships can't get in the way of fighting goals.

Rashad Evans must agree. Just a few minutes after Jon Jones crushed Mauricio "Shogun" Rua to take the UFC light heavyweight title, Evans climbed into the Octagon and accepted the next shot at Jones.

The big issue? Generally, fighters from the same training camp, don't want to fight each other. Evans and Jones both worked under trainer Greg Jackson in Albuquerque, NM.

When Evans was mentioned by UFC analyst Joe Rogan and then showed in the Octagon on the big screens around The Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., the crowd booed loudly.

That show of anger paled in comparison to the look on Jones' face. The introduction of Evans in the cage seemed to rain on Jones' parade a bit. He got just a few seconds to celebrate the culmination of years of hard work and then had to deal with the emotion of facing a training partner sometime later this year.

"We are teammates. I've sparred with him and he's sparred with me," Jones said as his voiced cracked. "This my dream and this is everything I believe in. And I know God wouldn't lead me this far, to leave me, so I gotta do exactly what I have to do."

Evans, nattily attired in a suit, walked to the microphone with a smirk on his face.

"I guess you should never say never," joked Evans.

Before UFC 128, with the possibilty of Jones winning the title, Evans and his younger training partner agreed they wouldn't fight. That all changed in the last 10 days, when Jones said he was tired of answering questions about Evans and suggested his training partner wasn't in his corner.

"[...] Rashad is not in my mind, he's not in my being, he has absolutely zero to do with my heart and who I am right now," Jones said during the UFC 128 prefight press conference. "[...] I have a lot of people outside of Rashad who I can draw energy and power from and they'll all be with me."

That opened the door for a fight in the future. Evans responded by saying Jones was being childish.

"That does sound a little bit cold-blooded. Jon's a young guy and when you're a young guy sometimes you talk a little too fast for your brain to keep up. I don't think it's acceptable at all. I don't think it's something I'd say. It sounds like he wants to fight, huh? Those sound like fighting words,"Evans told Larry Pepe of Pro MMA Radio. ".[...] Sometimes when you open your mouth you show what you're afraid of more than anything. I don't know why he has such an adverse response like that to me. I've never challenged him or made him feel like he should do that sort of thing. It sounds to me — if I was out of the situation — that he was feeling insecure about me. You can't just expect to not talk about a situation where you stepped in for a friend and training partner in a title fight who was injured. You can't take it personal… That sounds like a baby."

Tonight, Evans confirmed the belt trumps the friendship.

"We train together and you got that strap, so I gotta go after it," Evans said as the crowd booed.

Evans was originally scheduled to fight Rua at UFC 128, but suffered a knee injury just before Jones' fight at UFC 126 in early February. The UFC, faced with no one elite to challenged Rua six weeks later, turned to the neophite Jones. It sounds like Evans believes Jones cut in front of him. When Jones first joined the Jackson's, Evans was told a head-to-head would never be an issue. Things have changed.

Now the question is, who leaves the camp?

Jones only began training with Jackson in 2010. Evans is one of the camps original high-level members dating back to 2005. In that Pepe interview before the fight, it sounded like Evans had already made up his mind and would be working with Grudge in Denver if he had to face Jones.

It sets up an intriguing matchup from a mental and physical standpoint.

Evans has to know the champ's game as well as anyone in the division. At 32 years old, he may also be better equipped to handle the emotional side of the fight. That said, Jones, 23, didn't look one bit nervous last night in the biggest fight of his life. Evans also has the gift of gab. He's got a real knack for getting under the skin of his opponents.

UFC on Versus 2 LIVE BLOG: Jon Jones Strikes Again

This is the UFC on Versus 2 live blog for Jon Jones vs. Vladimir Matyushenko, the main event of tonight's televised UFC card in San Diego, Calif.



Jones is a rising star and heavy favorite coming into this fight against the former IFL champion Matyushenko. Matyushenko will look to utilize his experience advantage to derail Jones.


The live blog is below.

Ray Hui

MMA Writer (FANHOUSE.com)


Round 1: It's on! Jones with a 10-and-a-half inch reach advantage. Unreal. Matyushenko left hook misses but gets a reaction out of the crowd. Jones throws a spinning back kick and moves in for the takedown. Matyushenko quickly threatens Jones' arm. Jones passes to side control and gains the crucifix position to slam down rapid elbows for the stoppage.







Jones wins by TKO - Round 1, 1:52

Jones looked like he was the experience veteran tonight and notches another respectable name to his list of victories. Now the question is how fast should Jones move up in competition. Do you keep slowly building him up or do you throw him in with the title contenders? Very curious to see how the UFC decides to proceed with Jones.