The UFC on Fox team has conferred with Dana White, the president of the organization, and a fight has finally been announced for the debut.
It’s a big one: Cain Velasquez will defend his heavyweight title for the first time against Junior dos Santos and the predictions are rolling in.
The odds have swung a bit more toward Velasquez as the fight starts to draw near, and that’s because it seems as if people are becoming more and more comfortable that he will recover from shoulder surgery and be ready to go and full strength at the time of the fight.
The Nov. 12 clash is expected to be the biggest fight in UFC history because of the stage it’s on and while neither guy is a household name yet, both are elite talents and heavyweights with skill set the likes of which we haven’t seen yet in MMA.
They both bring it every fight as Dana White said and that’s why he’s banking on a top-quality, back-and-forth, epic clash to show many newcomer fans on national TV.
In this one, the x-factor is Cain Velasquez’s wrestling along with dos Santos’ ground game. Dos Santos’ takedown defense has improved by leaps and bounds and is now extremely strong, and it’s hard for it not to be training with Minotauro Nogueira who’s one of the best; same with his jiu jitsu as well.
But in a five-round fight a couple of takedowns at key moments could give Velasquez a leg up on the scorecard. Velasquez will likely be able to get takedowns and we haven’t seen dos Santos on his back.
Standing, both men are excellent but dos Santos probably is more technical as a boxer. Velasquez is great at mixing up his strikes, however, and keeping opponents off-balance with kicks and combinations. But his punch combos are not at the same level of complexity as dos Santos’.
In the end, the edge in this one goes to dos Santos because of his world-class striking, bigger upper body frame and polished combinations.
Dos Santos will have his hands full but he will outstrike Cain en route to a 4th round stoppage in a true classic of a fight.
UFC Velasquez vs. dos Santos prediction: Dos Santos wins