source: abs-cbnnews.com
Junior Dos Santos and Filipino-American Mark Muñoz both earned unanimous decision victories in their respective bouts at the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) 131 event in Vancouver, Canada.
Junior Dos Santos and Filipino-American Mark Muñoz both earned unanimous decision victories in their respective bouts at the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) 131 event in Vancouver, Canada.
Muñoz was in trouble early in his fight against Demian Maia, who surprised the Filipino Wrecking Machine with a hard punch.
“He caught me in the first round, he gave me a good punch,” Muñoz admitted after the match.
But Muñoz quickly recovered, peppering Maia with hard shots of his own. Throughout the second and third rounds, Maia continuously attempted to take down Muñoz, but the Filipino fighter showed improved wrestling skills and was able to hold his own.
Muñoz won all rounds, with two judges scoring 29-28 and the last 30-27.
After the match, Muñoz admitted that Maia had improved.
“His cage work surprised me. I didn’t expect him to be that strong,” said the Filipino
Muñoz improved his UFC record to 6-2.
Main event
In the main event, Dos Santos dominated Shane Carwin and earned an opportunity to fight UFC Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez for the title.
Dos Santos showed his lethal striking skills early in the bout. He was able to break Carwin’s nose in the first round with a flurry of punches, but Carwin managed to survive the round.
Carwin tried to get back in the game in the second round and managed to rock Dos Santos with a strong straight to his chin. Unfortunately for Carwin, Dos Santos quickly recovered with on-point jabs to Carwin’s head.
Dos Santos surprised Carwin and the Vancouver crowd in the final round when he took Carwin down to the ground.
Despite his injury, Carwin refused to back down and managed to last until the end of the bout.
But the speed and striking of Dos Santos was too much for Carwin. Dos Santos took all three rounds, 30-27, 30-27 and 30-26.
“I’m training to wrestle now,” Dos Santos said. “So watch out, my opponents.”
“Much respect to Cain Velasquez,” he added when asked about his title shot. “But Cain, I’m coming for you.”
Undercard
In the other matches, Kenny Florian took a unanimous decision win against Diego Nunes. It was Florian’s debut in the featherweight division, and he improved his record to 15-5.
Dave Herman won via a second round technical knock out against John-Olav Einemo, in what was both men’s UFC debuts.
Donald Cerrone put on a leg-kicking clinic against Vagner Rocha as he took a unanimous decision victory as well.
Cerrone was dominant throughout the bout, as he completely took Rocha out of the game via strong strikes to the leg.
Sam Stout knocked out Yves Edwards at the 3:52 mark of the first round. Stout, nicknamed “Hands of Stone,” crushed Edwards with a left hook to the chin that left the latter out cold.
Meanwhile, Chris Weidman won “Submission of the Night” honors against Jesse Bongfeldt. Weidman locked Bongfeldt in a standing guillotine in the first round, causing Bongfeldt to tap out.
