UFC 131: Dos Santos vs. Carwin

[INDYjon22]

[YOUTUBE]1MbJ_KHAwgE[/YOUTUBE]

Main Card

• Heavyweight Bout: Shane Carwin vs. Junior dos Santos
• Featherweight Bout: Kenny Florian vs. Diego Nunes
• Heavyweight Bout: Jon Olav Einemo vs. Dave Herman
• Middleweight Bout: Demian Maia vs. Mark Munoz
• Lightweight Bout: Donald Cerrone vs. Vagner Rocha

Preliminary Card

• Featherweight Bout: Dustin Poirier vs. Jason Young
• Middleweight Bout: Chris Weidman vs. Jesse Bongfeldt
• Middleweight Bout: Nick Ring vs. James Head
• Lightweight Bout: Yves Edwards vs. Sam Stout
• Featherweight Bout: Darren Elkins vs. Michihiro Omigawa
• Light Heavyweight Bout: Krzysztof Soszynski vs. Igor Pokrajac
• Heavyweight Bout: Aaron Rosa vs. Joey Beltran

The main event alone makes this card worthwhile. Two of the hardest hitting mother fuckers in the entire UFC are set to do battle, with the winner getting a crack at Cain Velasquez once he is good to go. Carwin came within an eyelash of winning the title not to long ago and now he gets another chance to possibly fight for the belt. However, he will have to get through the always tough JDS. This fight will pit the brawling striker against the technical striker. JDS vs. Carwin has classic written all over it.

Kenny Florian will make his debut at Featherweight as well. His first opponent is Diego Nunes. Nunes is a very solid fighter and a win over Florian would probably put him next in line for a crack at Jose Also after Chad Mendes. Florian really needs a win to help keep himself relevant in the UFC, seeing as he is nothing more then a gatekeeper in the Lightweight division. A win here could give him a new chance at finally reaching the top of the sport.

Jon Olav Einemo will make his UFC debut against another man entering the octagon for the first time in Dave Herman. I can't claim to know much about Einemo, but Herman is from Ft. Wayne and has been doing pretty good lately. Pee Wee is a big hitter with some wrestling credentials that could serve him well, but the lack of knowledge about Einemo could hurt him.

The submission master, Demian Maia, faces the strong wrestler, Mark Munoz. There is a distinct difference in skill sets between these two and it will be interesting to see how it plays out. Maia's best bet is to obviously take the fight to the ground and work his BJJ. However, Munoz has some very good wrestling skills and always improving striking. If Munoz can stuff the takedown then I think he can KO Maia eventually.

I hate Donald Cerrone but he always puts on good fights. It will be interesting to see how he does against Vagner Rocha, who has some good submission skills. I think Cerrone's veteran experience will lead him to victory, but I do think Rocha will give him a tough fight.

The undercard doesn't stick out to me that much but I do think Edwards/Stout will be an exciting fight to watch. I also really want to see who wins Soszynski/Igor. Igor still has a job but every fight he has could be his last. Kryzstof on the other hand has had a pretty solid UFC career so far and usually puts on some fun fights. I also can't wait to see Omigawa in action again. I really hope he picks up a win and gets on some sort of a win streak in the UFC.

Should be a very fun card to watch, that will give us some awesome KO finishes.

 

[Fizzy]

Very good card here. Nearly every fight on the main card has the chance to be an all out war. I'll start with the main event.

Carwin vs Dos Santos is nearly guaranteed to be a slugfest. Both guys love to stand and bang, and both are competent on the ground with Carwin being a D-II wrestler and Dos Santos being a BJJ Black Belt under the Nogs. if Carwin has the cardio, I can see him winning just because he has bombs for hands. JDS has by far the better technique of the two and is no slouch in power himself, but Carwin connects once it's done. We may even see Carwim use his wrestling to get Dos Santos down if he begins getting lit up on the feet. Very intriguing match up and should be a fantastic fight.

Very interested to see how Florian does at 145. Nunes is a game fighter and if Kenny gets by him, I see him receiving a title shot. I can't make a prediction for the fight because it all depends on one thing. How Kenny looks at 145. We have no clue how he will handle the weight cut so we cannot assess his skills at 145. Just have to wait and see, but it's another very intriguing fight.

Very excited to see Herman and Einemo debut. Einemo is a beast. He is a savage on the ground and trains at a very good camp with the likes of Overeem and Mousasi. If he can bring his striking up to par, he has serious potential. I'll be rooting for Einemo but if Herman wins I won't be disappointed. Very good fight.

The other two fights are very good to and this card should be very entertaining. Looking forward to it.

 

[jmt225]

There are a couple of prelim fights I'm looking forward to here, but I don't care for the main card at all.

Shane Carwin vs. Junior dos Santos will be an interesting fight, but a fast one. No doubt this one ends in the first round with somebody getting knocked the fuck out. My money is on JDS getting his hand raised, but I won't be surprised if Carwin's pulls out a knockout, either. Carwin definitely has the heaviest hands in the sport right now, and all it takes is one of those suckers touching you for you to go down. However, Carwin's boxing and speed is still shit, so I see JDS using good foot work and fast hands to put Carwin down.

Kenny Florian vs. Diego Nunes.... don't care. Not a fan of Kenny Florian at all, so him moving down to 145 doesn't hold any interest for me. Personally, I think he'll look like shit and get dominated. If he wins though, like I said... won't care.

Jon Olav Einemo vs. Dave Herman.... don't care. Should be an easy win for Dave Herman.

Demian Maia vs. Mark Munoz... don't care. Maia will tap his ass out or win a decision.

Donald Cerrone vs. Vagner Rocha... cared when Mac Danzig was Cerrone's opponent, don't care now. Cerrone should win this with ease.

And the prelim bouts I'm looking forward to are Yves Edwards vs. Sam Stout and Darren Elkins vs. Michihiro Omigawa. I'm a big fan of Yves Edwards and Stout is the perfect kind of opponent for him. I guarantee that fight wins FOTN. And of course I'm heavily rooting for Omigawa to get his first win in the UFC. I'm just pissed his fight isn't on the Spike Prelims. Omigawa fighting is much more interesting than Jesse Bongfeldt vs. Chris Weidman.

 

[Ryman]

Dos Santos-Carwin can only end via ko/tko, i think that Carwin will try what he did against Mir and push him up against the cage and dirty box him. Dos Santos has better boxing but he leaves his head open for a overhand right, if Nelson hit Dos Santos then Carwin can hit him and probably knock down/out.

Florian at 145 will be interesting, he was already skinny at 155. Florian should win but the weight cut and the fact that he has been injured could make it fun.

Maia-Munoz is a really good fight, i think that Munoz will be to big and strong for Maia.

Cerrone should defeat Rocha pretty easily.

Edwards-Stout is going to be awesome, this will be fotn.

The other fights i just dont have the energy to talk about

 

[Starchild]

I haven't looked too much into this card yet aside from the main event which I have a ton of interest in. Carwin and Dos Santos are no doubt gonna stand toe to toe and slug it out for as long as it takes to keep someone down. I agree with jmt that I don't think this fight gets out the first round with two guys with great knockout power.
As for my prediction, I think it could honestly could go either way and I wouldn't be surprised to see either man win but I'll go with Dos Santos just because he's easily the better rounded of the two and has been on fire as of late. I think he wins and sets up what should be a great title match in the long overdue bout between Dos Santos and Velasquez.

 

[Window Licker 101]

Well the dust has settled on the most recent UFC event and I will give my thoughts.

Carwin/JDS was extremely one sided. Junior dos Santos just dismantled Shane Carwin for three rounds straight. JDS' technical ability was superior to the tremendous power packed in the punches of Shane Carwin. JDS displayed expert boxing, takedown defence and even managed to take down former NCAA Division 2 wrestler Carwin! I honestly think Velasquez is going to have a torrid time dealing with JDS and the only way he can beat him is if he takes him into the deep waters and tires him out because JDS has shown he can punch himself out, he even admitted it at the post fight presser. Major props to Herb Dean for letting the fight to continue. Shane Carwin was blocking the majority of Junior's punches with his arm and was constantly moving trying to stay active and Dean regonised it. Best in the business by far.

Kenny Florian's fourth respective weight class debut was good, not great. Florian out-grappled "The Gun" on route to a unanimous decision victory (more on that later.). Diego Nunes displayed that he never gives up despite gassing out late in the second round. Nunes rocked Florian at the end of the 1st and 3rd rounds and Kenny was luckily saved by the bell. I firmly believe that if KenFlo was to be in a championship fight with the superior Jose Aldo, he would be picked apart on the feet. Nunes will bounce back stronger and I would love to see him matched up with The Korean Zombie. Ok back to the final outcome, some ******ed judge decided to score the fight 30-27 in Florian's favour. Sure Florian won the fight but he was getting tagged by Nunes in the 1st and Diego Nunes CLEARLY won that round. Hell, a case can even be made that Nunes could have won the fight but moving on.

What the hell happened to Damian Maia? The one dimensional jiu-jitsu kingpin was replaced with a head hunting, grappling warrior. I was amazed with the development in Maia's stand-up ability. I couldn't believe my eyes when he rocked Munoz early in the fight and proceeded to chase him around the octagon for the knockout. Before this fight took place I invisioned a repeat of Maia/Marquardt with Munoz knocking out Maia but instead we got a great technical fight. Lots of grappling, brawling and excitement. Munoz rightfully walked away the victor but IMO the real talking point was the improvement in Maia's stand-up ability. Munoz should fight Stann next, that would be a sick fight! Oh and once again BS judging. The third round was very, very close and the first round was definitely won by Maia. However, Munoz was somehow awarded a 30-27 again! Urgh!

I freaking loved this fight! John-Olav Einemo and Dave Herman went to war! I was picking Herman to walk away with the second round TKO prior to the fight and it seemed everyone else had Einemo via submission. Einemo rocked Herman several times in the fight but "Pee-Wee" retaliated every time. A similar situation to Pete Sell/Scott Smith occurred in the fight when Einemo clocked Herman with a knee and chased him down only for Herman to deliver a massive knee which dropped Einemo to the mat! Herman and Einemo slugged it out on the feet again before Herman dropped Einemo again with a knee and finished him off with the punches. Great fight and both guys walked him with 70k due to the FOTN bonus.

Vagner Rocha was completely out of his element in this fight. Joe Rogan said it best, "Rocha is a black belt in jiu-jitsu and Cerrone is a black belt in stand-up. Rocha is about blue belt at best." Cerrone just kicked lumps out of Rocha for 15 minutes and Rocha didn't check a damn one of them. Donald was just lacking that killer instinct in the fight and cruised his way to a one sided decision win. I would LOVE to see The Cowboy matched up with Anthony Pettis next. That would be a sweet stand-up war. WEC lives on!

I thought Sam Stout had killed Yves Edwards. That counter left hook fucked Edwards up!! I expected this to win FOTN but Stout proved why he has "Hands of Stone." Disgusting knockout. Edwards was twitching after he smacked off the canvas and his eyes were glaring wide open, very similar to when Phil Baroni KO'd Scott Jansen back at Cage Rage. Definite contender for Knockout of the Year but Machida's flying crane kick is going to be hard to beat.

The future of the middleweight division is Chris Weidman. The dude is a phenomenal wrestler and under the tutelage of Matt Serra, he can only get better. Weidman defeated Ryan Bader and Phil Davis in his collegiate wrestling career which just highlights how good he really is! Weidman managed to successfully take Bongfeldt down after Bongfeldt had him dazed from a head kick. Weidman then hooked up a tight standing guillotine choke to take home the submission of the night award. Awesome prospect. He has similar hype to when Jon Jones and Velasquez were rising up through their respective divisions.

Probably the most boring fight of the card but credit to Mike Massenzio for stepping UP in weight to take a fight with Soszynski (I have finally learnt how to spell it correctly!) on ONE WEEKS notice. What makes things even worse for Massenzio is that Soszynski is one of the largest lightheavyweight's there is, having competed as a heavyweight for 22 professional fights. Soszynski stuffed almost all of Massenzio's desperate takedown attempts on route to a decision victory.

I wasn't really looking forward to this fight at all but it surprised me. I didn't care for Nick Ring or James Head (Is his nickname "Gives"?) but they provided a decent scrap for us Facebook fans. Ring was rocked earlier by Head but everything after that was all Ring. Head was cut open badly and was leaking all over the octagon floor. Once again, major credit to Herb Dean who stopped the fight to allow the doctors to look at Head's, well, head! He then correctly adjusted them into the position they were in previously despite both men protesting they were in differently. Dean done a brilliant job handling the situation and when the fight restarted, Head was already gassed out and Nick Ring managed to hook up a very sloppy RNC victory, similar to the one utilised by Mirko Cro-Cop on Pat Barry back at the last UFC card in Vancouver, UFC 115.

I am an avid fan of Ariel Helwani's MMA Hour so I was curious to hear what Jason "Shotgun" Young had to say a week before his fight with Dustin Poirier. He came across as a very respectable chap and didn't have a bad thing to say. In his fight, he earned a fan in me. Young fought hard with Dustin Poirier for 15 minutes straight but was unfortunately out-wrestled in the third round. Once again the wrestling ability, or lack there of, of the Brits was exposed and Dustin successfully scored the decision but this was a really exciting fight! Both men will be studs in the featherweight division and it was great to see them so respectful of each other post fight. Again, bullshit judging returns to the octagon as someone scored it 30-27 in Poirier's favour. Fair enough he won the fight but give Jason Young his due, he battered Poirier in the second and definitely won that round. A major overhaul to the judging system is needed now more than never.

Joey Beltran and Aaron Rosa may not be the most technical fighters in the world but man they provided a very entertaining slugfest for us. These guys were just swinging heavy leather until somebody dropped. At the end of the second round, they were in a position eerily similar to the PRIDE war between Don Frye and Takayama! Beltran eventually managed to get the better of Rosa by dragging him to the ground and smashing his face in on the mat. Joe Silva did a fantastic job matching those two dudes up, awesome stuff.

By FAR the worst robbery of the year so far if not ever. Darren Elkins was awarded a 30-27 on one judge's card which was completely ludacris. Round one was debatable but Michihiro Omigawa was peppering him on the feet. Round two was Omigawa blooding Elkins standing-up and he definitely won that round. Round three was Omigawa taking down Elkins and fucking him up on the ground. Did you see all the blood on the canvas after Omigawa got done with Elkins? I am in complete disbelief that the judges can even score that in Elkins favour. Even if he won the first round, he would clearly have lost 29-28. Un-fucking-believable. I'm glad Dana White is going to treat Michihiro Omigawa as if he won the fight by paying him his bonus money. Bullshit robbery of the year hands down.

Overall this event delivered from top to bottom. Very enjoyable, I score it 9/10

 

[INDYjon22]

I've never been a big fan of Carwin, but his fights are always entertaining and I can respect that. The dude is a warrior and my hat goes off to him, even if he did come out on the losing side of his fight with JDS. JDS is a guy who I have been a big fan of since his debut in the UFC. And just look at the 7 guys he has defeated en route to today, not one of them was an easy fight for him. He truly is deserving of his shot at the belt and I hope the fight with Cain can get put together by the end of the year. It should be a Heavyweight classic the likes of which we have never seen before.

Florian winning didn't really surprise me. I don't like him all that much so I was pulling for Nunes, but Florian just has so much experience. I don't exactly agree with the UFC's decision to put him up against Aldo next, but I can see where they are coming from. Florian is a battle tested fighter who has been in fights with the best, he will be a great test for Jose. Nunes on the other hand has a great upside. I see big things in this kids future as long as he can continue to improve upon his skills.

Maia showing off his striking was cool to see, but he was out of his element with Munoz. I don't care how much he has improved, it was silly of him to try and go toe to toe with a guy who has the striking that Munoz has. Still, if Maia can continue to improve upon his striking and figure out how to use it to get his opponents in submission situations then he could turn his UFC career around yet.

Glad to see Dave Herman win. He is a hometown boy and is fairly exciting to watch. Hopefully, he can continue to put on fun fights. Also, fuck Cerrone, I don't like the guy and I find it incredibly funny that he couldn't finish Rocha even though he was the far superior striker. Please Dana, put Cerrone in the cage with someone like Penn or Gomi so I can see that punk get knocked out.

As for the undercard, glad to see Stout win. I have nothing against Yves, but I prefer Stout and it is nice to see him pick up a victory over a very credible fighter in Yves Edwards. It was also nice to see Soszynski win, and a damn shame to see Omigawa get the shaft. Hopefully the UFC will give Omigawa one more shot.

 

[Fizzy]

Fantastic show the other night. Enjoyed every fight.

The main event really proved two things to me. Carwin has a huge heart and a fantastic chin, and JDS will likely be beaten by Cain if he fights like he did against Carwin. JDS looked fantastic last night with his TDD. He proved he could stuff a huge wrestler's takedowns which will be a major plus against Cain. He did however, show a weakness in his striking. It may have been because Carwin was larger, but whenever Carwin put pressure on JDS, he hit him repeatedly. He won the exchanges when he pressured him into the fence and was the aggressor. Carwin however, didn't do this often whether it was because of JDS's boxing or because Carwin was gassed, but Cain will push the pace. He will push JDS into the fence like Carwin did on occasions and JDS will need to handle that better. Also, JDS's cardio will undoubtedly be worse than Cain's and it's a five round fight. JDS better improve from this fight if he wants to stand a chance against Cain, and I firmly believe he will. Should be a fantastic fight regardless.

The rest of the card was fantastic and was tons of fun. Florian will get handled by Jose. He got tagged hard twice in a three round fight by Nunes who's striking isn't on Aldo's level. Can't wait to see him get destroyed. Omigawa got fucked out of that decision. Poor guy can't catch a break. Luckily, I read Dana gave him his win bonus anyway even though he lost. No doubt in my mind he will receive another fight.

 

[X]

So I caught a bit of the prelims and the main event of this show the night it happened, but didn't get around to watching the entire thing until today. Really good show, some solid fights and a good main event made it worth checking out.

Chris Weidman vs. Jesse Bongfelt was a nice little quick opener for the prelims on Spike. Apparently Weidman dislocated his knee (which he's already had a bunch of surgeries on) in the fight and just kept fighting through it, tough dude. Pretty dominant win by submission in the first round.

Sam Stout vs. Yves Edwards deservedly got KO of the night for Stout. Yves crumpled to the floor like a sack of potatos, he really got nailed right on the button. Was glad to see Stout didn't follow up with any unnecessary punches either, he knew after that one left hand that it was all over and just walked away. Awesome knockout.

Joey Beltran vs. Aaron Rosa was a really entertaining fight. The first round was a total war with both guys trading some crazy punch exchanges. They really beat the tar out of each other in the first round, but neither man seemed phased. They didn't slow down the pace in the next two rounds either and this was an easy candidate for fight of the night.

Donald Cerrone vs. Vagner Rocha was a lot of fun to watch because Cerrone made Vagner Rocha look silly in the fight for the PPV opener, refusing to even attempt going to the ground with him and instead just kicking his legs into total oblivion for 3 rounds. Rocha could barely even put stand midway through the second round, and it was just more of the same in the third so Cerrone won pretty convincingly. Entertaining to see Cerrone just dissect Rocha with the low kicks.

Dave Herman vs. John-Olav Einemo was another good fight. First round was pretty perfunctory stuff and the crowd was really behind Einemo (who sported a Canucks flag before the fight to get some cheap heat). Second round was great though, both guys were swinging for the fences and going totally wild, leading to an awesome finish for Herman. Entertaining fight.

Mark Munoz vs. Demian Maia was yet another good fight (recurring theme tonight, eh?), a really even fight that could have gone either way and in the end Munoz got the split decision. Both guys looked good I thought, and really the argument could have been made for either man winning the fight. First two rounds were a lot of fun, and the third had a big fight feel to it because of how even the first two were. Good stuff.

Kenny Florian vs. Diego Nunes, yet again another good fight and with a ton of heat from the crowd because of Florian rocking a Bruins jersey during the weigh-ins the other night. Florian totally outclassed Nunes here from beginning to end, getting some big takedowns and cutting open Nunes pretty badly with some nasty elbows. Another solid win for Florian and I'm sure people are going to start throwing him into title fight talks pretty soon.

Junior Dos Santos vs. Shane Carwin was a good way to cap off the show as it definitely had a big fight feel to it, even with Carwin having to replace Lesnar. Carwin showed a ton of heart in the fight and most refs probably would have called it when Junior got him down on the mat and just went to town with strikes to the face but credit to Carwin he was never truly "out of it" and was able to stick around through out the entire fight. Unfortunately for him though JDS was the clearly dominant fighter here, remaining calm and collected while Carwin got frustrated and just getting his shots in carefully. Big way for JDS and I know a lot of people are more interested to see him fight Cain Velasquez for the title now then they were before. Good fight.

Overall a great show honestly, I came in with low expectations but every fight wound up being entertaining in some way, with several very good fights aand a solid main event. The prelims were a lot of fun too. All around another fun show from the UFC and an easy Thumbs Up from me.