UFC 146 Results and Recap: Dos Santos TKOs Mir, Velasquez destroys Silva

Junior dos Santos did what everyone expected he would, finishing Frank Mir with strikes in the second round to defend his heavyweight title. Mir attempted a single leg early, and when it was unsuccessful he dropped for a foot lock, but dos Santos escaped with ease. After that Mir decided to fight dos Santos strictly on the feet, which ultimately lead to his downfall. After a bit of feeling out on the feet, dos Santos rocked Mir with only seconds left in the opening round. The same continued in the second, as JDS dropped Mir with a right and finished things with strikes on the ground. Mir never really looked threatening in the fight, and this was probably the last time he will get a chance at the UFC heavyweight title. Dos Santos will move on to a tougher challenge, but more on that next.

Cain Velasquez absolutely destroyed Antonio Silva in a performance worthy of beat down of the century. Silva wasn't able to get anything going, as Cain took him down almost right away and just battered him to a pulp. An elbow cut Silva wide open, and not long after the Brazilian's face was completely covered in blood. The beating continued for several minutes before the fight was called. Velasquez looked like a man on a mission and surely booked his rematch with JDS after this showing. Silva is still a very good heavyweight but it seems at this time that there is clear separation between the talent levels of dos Santos and Velasquez from the rest of the division. The rematch is going to be awesome.

Roy Nelson one punch KO'd Dave Herman in less than one minute, improving his UFC record to 4-3. Not much to say about this one. I said it before and I'll say it again, Nelson will never crack the elite level at heavyweight but he will beat guys like Dave Herman all day long. I'd like to see the previously scheduled Nelson vs. Gonzaga fight next, as both guys are in the same sort of top ten gatekeeper status.

Shane del Rosario looked good in the first round, but ultimately succumbed to the superior ground game of Stipe Miocic, who won the fight via TKO in the second round. Del Rosario was landing great kicks to the body in the first round, while Miocic had troubles getting any offense going. However in the second he scored a takedown and it was all Miocic from there, as he brutalized del Rosario with elbows on the ground for the stoppage. Miocic is going to have troubles in the future with good strikers who can stop takedowns, but he is still on the good side of 30 and has time to improve.

Stefan Struve showcased his superior ground game by pulling guard on the powerful Lavar Johnson, and it paid off. Only seconds later he was able to wrap up an armbar and force the tap. Props to Johnson for taking the fight only three weeks after his last bout, but he's going to need to make some big improvements to his ground game if he wants to hang around in the UFC. Struve wins his third fight in a row, all by stoppage, and improves to an impressive 8-3 in the UFC. The UFC should go ahead and book Struve vs. Mark Hunt when Hunt recovers from his injury.

Darren Elkins showed grit by coming back from a first round that saw him get beat up pretty bad, to dominate the second and third rounds and take the decision over Diego Brandao. Brandao had some momentum after winning TUF 14 but his aggressive start was not enough to beat Elkins, who used his superior wrestling game to control Brandao on the mat.

I admit, I was really down on Jamie Varner going into his bout with Edson Barboza. But he silenced all the critics and put away the previously undefeated Barboza with strikes in the first round. This has to be the leading contender for upset of the year so far, as Barboza was tearing it up in the UFC and Varner was cut from the WEC years ago after going 0-3-1 in four bouts. It will be interesting to see where the two go from here. Barboza is still young so he can get back on track, but this seriously hurts his stock.

C.B. Dollaway defeated Jason Miller by unanimous decision. The less said about this fight the better. Miller rocked Dollaway in the first two rounds but spent the majority of the fight with Dollaway clinging on to him and holding him down. C.B finally managed some meaningful offense at the end from the back mount position. I would imagine that after two dreadful performances in the UFC Miller will be cut.

Dan Hardy won his first fight in almost three years, and did so in a big way by viciously knocking out Duane Ludwig in the first round. Hardy landed a lunging left hook that dropped Ludwig, and then followed up with some brutal elbows to put Ludwig out. Hardy's back was against the wall as after four straight losses, he was in all likelihood fighting for his job. It's a bit of a feel good story as the UFC is planning a show in Nottingham, Hardy's home town, this fall. With the win Hardy will almost certainly get a spot on the card and fight in his backyard for the first time in the UFC.

I thought Paul Sass would be able to wrap up Volkmann in a submission sometime over the course of 15 minutes, but I didn't think it would happen so quickly. In the first round Sass was able to wrap up Volkmann's left arm and then beautifully transition into a triangle-armbar for the win. Sass improves to 13-0, 3-0 in the UFC, with nine of his 13 wins coming by triangle. Volkmann's five fight win streak is snapped with the loss.

There was a lot of hype surrounding Glover Teixeira coming into his UFC debut bout against Kyle Kingsbury, and man did he deliver. In what was basically a cakewalk, Teixeira beat the tar out of Kingsbury on the feet, smashed him on the ground and easily transitioned into an arm-triangle to get the finish in less than two minutes. Since time isn't on his side (Glover turns 33 in October), the UFC shouldn't waste any time giving him big fights. My suggestion would be to match him up with Forrest Griffin in his next outing.

Mike Brown won his second consecutive fight by defeating Daniel Pineda by unanimous decision in the night's opener. It was a solid fight that saw Brown use his power to muscle Pineda around as well as land some damaging strikes to the body. Pineda was durable though and had Browns back for the latter half of the third round. I doubt Brown will make it back to the top of the division but it's nice to see him put some wins together in the UFC.

Published by Jeff Zanatta - Sun, 27 May 2012 05:24