Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Breakdown of Junior Dos Santos vs Cain Velasquez at UFC on FOX

The heavyweight title fight between Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos ended so quickly that it disapponted some people. I, like many, think the UFC and Fox should have shown Guida-Henderson instead of 30 minutes of of hype. But, I don't understand why people think it's a total failure. If you look at the details of the fight, I think any MMA fan can still enjoy it, even if it was short.
 
Immediately, Dos Santos was superior in terms of speed to Velasquez, so, he didn't need to attack first. Dos Santos was able to react to Velasquez's attack and counter, instead. Moreover, dos Santos is great at using his back step to create an angle for his dominant right hand. He goes to the right side to set up that right hook, making it much harder to see.
 
Dos Santos throws a left hook with 4:22 remaining, and Velasquez answers with a left hook of his own. I think that movement made dos Santos try it again. At 4:18 remaining, dos Santos shows a left hook feint, then throws a right hook to the body, bringing the attention to Velasquez's torso.
 
Then, with 4:05 remaining, dos Santos throws a left jab, which I don't think he had any intention of landing. If you watch the replay at the end of the fight, it looks like he uses the jab to gauge Velasquez's movement. He expected Cain to answer with the left hook, and he was able to counter with his right hand. Look at the post-fight replay and watch the mechanics.
 
Short fights can still have plenty of rich MMA content if you really look.



Big thanks to Jordan Breen (Sherdog) for English editing.

1 comment:

  1. I’ve got to agree with you on that. It’s not the duration of the fight that determines its quality, but the way the fighters implemented their game plan through the application of their technical skill sets. Dos Santos had his boxing, and Velasquez had his wrestling. I like how you broke down the fight here. Dos Santos was clearly gauging how Velasquez would respond to his attacks in the early going of the fight, and that’s why he used feints to keep Cain off balance. He’s also great at being unpredictable, while attacking and counter-attacking by going body-head-body with his combinations. He was missing a lot of that in their rematch, plus he was clearly fazed by Cain’s relentless pace. At the moment, the heavyweight division has these two at the pinnacle, with Cain as the current kingpin. But I wouldn’t be surprised if Dos Santos overthrows him in the near future.

    Hugh Motz

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