UFC 131: Junior Dos Santos – Shane Carwin SHOCKING RESULTS – The Aftermath
By Siri Karri
UFC 131 is over, and what a card! The card was exciting from beginning to end, featuring some jarring knockouts and skillful ground wars. While Dana White takes care of rewarding the best fighters on the card, let’s utilize the gift of hindsight and analyze the results of this card.
As per usual, if please leave thoughts or questions in the comments section below. I always enjoy a good discussion!
1) Sam Stout is still one of the most exciting fighters in the UFC
I have a soft spot for fighters like Sam Stout; they aren’t good enough to win the title or always be on the main card but they are generally the most exciting fighters on any card they are part of. Unfortunately, even with all their fight of the night performances, they often find themselves fading into obscurity behind the UFC’s star power.
Sam Stout has politely reminded audiences that while his kind are not the highest paid or highest hyped, they would do well to watch him fight. His resounding knockout of Yves Edwards is about as brutal as they come, etching itself into fans’ memories just as easily (if not more) than the main card event. Yves Edwards, a lightweight brimming with energy and experience, smashed the back of head on the canvas as a crashing left hook from Stout put him unconscious before he even hit the floor.
Way to earn your pay little guy, way to earn your pay.
2) Damian Maia and Mark Munoz are on the path to success
Despite the fact that Munoz walked away with the victory, both of these middleweights were victorious.
Maia put his 6 month layoff to good use, packing on muscle onto his normally anorexic frame. Normally considered a pure grappler whose standup was serviceable at best, he actually rocked Mark Munoz on several occasions. He actually stalked the far more powerful striker, landing beautiful counter hooks that on several occasions had Munoz bewildered.
Munoz did what Chael Sonnen, arguably the best wrestler at 185, could not: manhandle Damian Maia on the ground. Okay maybe not manhandle but he was only in danger of being submitted once throughout 3 rounds while stuffing numerous takedowns by Maia. The one submission attempt Maia had, which was a bizarre spider-esque choke that Maia would’ve sunk in 10/10 times, Munoz managed to power his way out of.
They definitely have a ways to go.
Maia cannot afford to let go of chokes, his bread and butter in MMA. His only chance against Munoz was to choke him out and he didn’t take it. Maia used to be the absolute terror of the ground, now he seems to utilize ground fighting to grind out a decision. He simply cannot afford to do this.
Munoz, meanwhile, cannot be out-struck by the likes of Maia. There are FAR more dangerous strikers such as Vitor Belfort who will not let Munoz survive so easily.
But both are headed in the right direction.
Kenny Florian will not be Featherweight champion
Kenny Florian disproved one of my fears: his cardio has not gone. He claims that he cut from 180lbs to reach the 145 limit and if he did, props to him. However, I also mentioned that Kenny’s athleticism and explosiveness would be hampered by the serious weight cut. That I was right about.
While Kenny cruised to a relatively easy decision, there were several moments that showed he’s not ready to hang with featherweight’s best.
A) In the first round, Nunes caught Kenny with a spinning backfist and then later a left hook which dropped him.
B) Nunes was able to hold the ground-savvy Kenny on the canvas while avoiding submissions on multiple occasions.
C) In the third round, even as Nunes was clearly beaten, he landed a solid combination that dropped Kenny to his knees.
Ken-Flo definitely showed his resilience and technique, but he isn’t fast or explosive enough to compete with the division’s elite. There was pre-fight talk that if Kenny beat Nunes, he would be next in line for featherweight champion Jose Aldo.
No offense to Kenny, but Aldo is one of the greatest finishers the sport has ever seen. With the exception of his last title defense (in which he was sick and packed on too much muscle to drain his cardio), Aldo has dominated every single opponent with Kenny’s precise weakness: explosiveness. If Aldo catches Kenny with a hook or kick, he’s going to make him pay far more than Nunes did. Kenny won’t just go to the ground; he’ll go to the ground unconscious.
Kenny has a future in the featherweight division, but it doesn’t involve him wearing a belt.
4) Junior Dos Santos is the best heavyweight in the UFC
I’m sure Cain Valesquez has fans who claim he is #1 (and rightfully so), but watching Junior Dos Santos tonight simply reaffirmed what I have been saying for the better part of two years by absolutely drubbing Shane Carwin. Here’s what impressed me most about his performance:
A) He got taken clinched and taken down by one of the division’s best (not to mention strongest and heaviest) wrestlers and managed to escape both times
B) He took a couple of heavy punches on his chin from the hardest hitter in all of MMA and survived with little effort. If there was any question of Junior’s chin left over from the Roy Nelson fight, they have been answered ten-fold.
C) Dos Santos actually displayed some offensive wrestling. He literally picked up Shane Carwin, a man who is the size and weight of a shaved gorilla, and slammed him down on the canvas at the end of the fight. He certainly doesn’t display the pedigree of Cain Valesquez, but it shows that Junior isn’t a one trick pony.
Obviously I’m making this claim on paper: Junior has never faced a wrestler of Cain’s caliber and the heavyweight champion is obviously far more athletic than anyone Junior has ever beat up on. Likewise, Cain Valesquez has never been hit by someone as powerful as Junior.
I make my claim that Junior is the best simply because his resume of wins is more impressive than Cain Valesquez at the moment. We’ll find out who the real winner is when these two heavyweight titans face off.
Or should I say Titan Jr?