UFC 160 blog: Cain Velasquez, Junior dos Santos show their supremacy

By Case Keefer (contact)

Published Saturday, May 25, 2013 | 7 p.m.

Updated Saturday, May 25, 2013 | 9:47 p.m.

Note: Scroll to the bottom of the page for full results from the UFC 160 preliminary card.

Get ready for a second rematch, a third fight against the same opponent for UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez.

And don't worry, it's not against tonight's opponent Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva. Velasquez finished Silva even quicker than the first time they fought in the main event of UFC 160, dropping the challenger with strikes and finishing him with a TKO at 1:21 of the first round.

The man Velasquez will soon find standing across from him in the octagon again is familiar foe Junior dos Santos. The Brazilian pulled off an impressive feat of his own at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, knocking out Mark Hunt at 4:18 of the third round with a spinning back kick to the head.

"He looked good tonight," Velasquez said of dos Santos while still in the octagon. "He's tough, always tough."

Dos Santos' knockout must rank among the top in UFC history. Hunt, who had already displayed an iron chin by eating a smattering of right hands from dos Santos for 14 minutes, dropped immediately. The couple follow-up shots from dos Santos were, ultimately, unnecessary.

Hunt was out, his four-fight winning streak snapped in humbling fashion.

"He's a dangerous and very nice guy," dos Santos said. "I like people like him. I did my best. I always try my best and this time it was good."

Dos Santos wasn't the only fighter to earn a title shot Saturday. TJ Grant penciled his name in for a championship bout with Benson Henderson at lightweight.

Grant came out the winner in a short slugfest with Gray Maynard, knocking out the former top contender at 2:07 of the first round.

“This is like a dream come true but the dream isn’t over yet," Grant said. " There is still work to do."

Glover Teixeira joined the first-round finish party, submitting James Te Huna with a guillotine 2:38 into the fight. Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone didn't get a stoppage, but was every bit as brutal as all his colleagues on the main card.

Cerrone cruised past K.J. Noons, winning every round and opening several cuts on the former Strikeforce champion's face.

Find round-by-round coverage of the main card below and full results from the preliminary card at the bottom of the page. Check back to lasvegassun.com for full coverage of UFC 160 later.

Cain Velasquez vs. Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva

First Round Velasquez shoots for a takedown right away, but "Bigfoot" gets away from the single-leg. Velasquez works his punches instead. He lands a right, but Bigfoot answers with an uppercut. Velasquez thinks takedown again when Silva comes forward. Silva stuffs the attempt. Velasquez circles and ducks under a Bigfoot combination, landing a right afterwards. Velasquez drops Bigfoot a few seconds later. He thinks about getting on his back for a choke, but ditches that plan. Velasquez begins pounding on the downed Silva. The referee steps in. Cain Velasuqez beats Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva by TKO at 1:21 of the first round.

Junior dos Santos vs. Mark Hunt

Third Round Hunt swings for the kill, but dos Santos is quickly out of the way. Dos Santos scores with the first punch on the other side of the cage. It's a left hand to the body. He keeps getting away from Hunt's advances, especially now that the New Zealand kickboxing champion has tired a bit. Hunt does a right hand that sends dos Santos towards the cage. His kicks can't find the mark, though. Dos Santos, noticing the fatigue, punches to the body again. The former champion now uses his jab to set up an overhand right. It misses. Hunt's counter is also off. Hunt comes forward and follows a leg kick with a straight left. Hunt's face is bruised and bleeding as he eats jabs from dos Santos. Hunt lands a kick to the body but, with two minutes left, he's got a long way to go. He flings a right hand but dos Santos bobs under it. He hits Hunt again before wobbling him with a left. Hunt looks in trouble but recovers momentarily. Dos Santos drops Hunt with a spinning back kick late in the round and that's it. Hunt is down. Junior dos Santos knocks out Mark Hunt at 4:18 of the third round.

Second Round Hunt comes forward and dos Santos circles for the first 30 seconds. They trade punches with both shots making the crowd gasp. Dos Santos gets ahead with a left hook and then a spinning back fist. Hunt leg kicks, but takes a straight right as retribution. Dos Santos loads up a right again, but Hunt has developed better timing to get away from it. Hunt jabs dos Santos back, but gets the same in return. Hunt puts dos Santos to the fence with a right hand. Dos Santos comes forward now and pelts Hunt with back-to-back straight rights. Hunt is off rhythm now midway through the round after a strong start. Dos Santos goes with a spinning back kick to the body. Hunt finally supplies some offense with a combination against the cage. Dos Santos works his jab when they get back towards the middle. Hunt lands a couple consecutive significant strikes, and dos Santos might be rocked. He doesn't show any ill effects as he backs out and eventually shoots for a takedown. The crowd, loving the stand-up action, boos but it was necessary for "Cigano". It was also easy. Hunt had no resistance. Dos Santos is utilizing ground-and-pound when it's available. He's now in side control and throwing lots of elbows. Hunt gets to his feet as the round ends. The Sun has the bout 20-18 in favor of dos Santos.

First Round Mark Hunt enters the octagon with no walkout shirt, or even a sponsorship banner. Strange. Dos Santos strikes first with a right hand around Hunt's ear. Both are patient for the first minute, but Hunt lets loose a right hand and follows with a leg kick. Dos Santos answers, and as expected, is noticeably quicker than Hunt. He gets away from an advance and answers with a straight right. Dos Santos drops Hunt with an overhand right that's so loud it echoes across the arena. Hunt bounces up and looks fine somehow. The crowd also comes to their feet. Hunt throws haymakers now and gets dos Santos to retreat. "Cigano" chants start in support of the former champion. Hunt tags dos Santos with a right, and then a softer left. Dos Santos backs to the middle of the cage with a blood around the top of his nose. He hits Hunt with a powerful right hand and then drops down for a shot to the body. Hunt tries to close the distance, but dos Santos is too fast and moves out of the way. They exchange in the middle and dos Santos gets the best of it. He backs into the fence afterwards though and eats a big right hook from Hunt. Dos Santos comes forward but Hunt uses head movement to get out of the way of another right. He's not as lucky about 15 seconds later, but the bell rings before Hunt can answer. Dos Santos wins the first, 10-9 according to the Sun.

Glover Teixeira vs. James Te Huna

First Round Te Huna starts aggressive, meeting Texieira in the middle and letting punches fly. Teixeira tries for a single-leg takedown, but Te Huna wiggles free. He takes some punches against the cage for the privilege, though. Back in the middle, Te Huna stays in the pocket and exchanges with Teixeira. But then he gets taken down on a single-leg attempt identical to the first one. Brazilians overtake the arena chanting for Teixeira. Te Huna is staying defensive, but Teixeira sneaks in elbows whenever he can. Teixeira looks for a more dominant position, but Te Huna uses the opening to get to his feet. Texieira has his neck, though. Teixeira drops down and guillotines Te Huna. The tap comes quickly. Glover Teixeira submits James Te Huna at 2:38 of the first round.

Gray Maynard vs. TJ Grant

First Round There's no action for the first 30 seconds until Maynard engages with some jabs. Quickly, he's throwing haymakers. Grant eats some shots, but circles out before another right hand lands on his chin. Grant gets a combination to go, but the power is in Maynard's favor early. Grant catches Maynard with a left hand and the former top contender stumbles back. Maynard answers when Grant closes in with a right hand. A few seconds later, Grant drops Maynard with a right. Maynard pops up and he goes down again. Grant drops him a third time with a right hand before the referee jumps in. T.J. Grant defeats Gray Maynard by TKO at 2:07 of the first round.

Donald Cerrone vs. K.J. Noons

Third Round Crowd gives big ovation at the request of Cerrone. It's been a good fight where Noons ha shown plenty of toughness. He does again by taking a knee from Cerrone early. Noons' face is bloodied, especially his nose. He kicks Cerrone to the body and follows with a right cross. They exchange evenly for a few seconds, but Cerrone shoots and takes Noons down. Noons tries to get to his feet, but Cerrone focuses on staying heavy on top. Noons raps his arms around Cerrone's head to get away from the constant elbows being rained down. He can only keep the position momentarily. Cerrone is punishing Noons. Blood flies when Cerrone elbows Noons' head. When Noons starts to cover up, Cerrone switches his ground-and-pound and emphasizes body shots. Noons makes a push to get up, but ends up on his side. Cerrone keeps feeding elbows, further mangling Noons' face. Noons has supplied no offense off of his back. Fight ends with Cerrone raining more elbows. The Sun scores the fight in favor of Cerrone, 30-27. Donald Cerrone defeats K.J. Noons by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26).

Second Round Noons comes forward and gets taken down by a Cerrone double-leg. Cerrone looks for a guillotine, which allows Noons to scramble to his feet. Noons closes the distance and lands a soft uppercut. Simultaneous kicks from the fighters cancel each other out. Cerrone finds Noons chin with a right hand. And then a left. Noons answers with a combination of a leg kick and left hand. Cerrone flings a big knee and then tags Noons with a right hand. Noons stays in the pocket and looks to answer. Cerrone evades most of his strikes, but takes a push kick to the stomach. Cerrone almost chops down Noons with a leg kick, but they stay standing. Noons is retreating now, trying to create distance from Cerrone. It's not working as Cerrone comes forward with a kick. Noons lands a combination in return. They're brawling now and Noons is hitting with a lot of volume. A spinning back fist from Noons finds Cerrone's chin. Just when Noons had turned the tables in the round, he kicks and Cerrone catches his leg for a takedown. Cerrone smothers Noons on top and lands a couple particularly effective punches from the dominant position. Noons is simply trying to minimize the damage from his back — and not doing too good of a job. Cerrone tries to get into side control, all the while letting his elbows go into Noons' face. Cerrone takes another frame and is now up 20-18, according to the Sun.

First Round They trade kicks early before Cerrone drags Noons to the ground. He lets him up but lands a knee that gets the crowd to come alive. Cerrone starts to work his right hand. Cerrone also keeps up with the leg kicks. He counters a Noons kick with a left hook. Cerrone goes up for a head kick after Noons lands a punch or two to the body. Noons' face is already swelling. He takes a kick across the body, but answers with one of his own to Cerrone's leg. Cerrone blasts Noons with a knee as he comes in but loses his balance and can't follow up. They make their way back towards the middle and trade punches, but then Cerrone shoots and takes Noons down. A mouse on the left side of Noons' face has started to look even worse. Cerrone backs him down and fires leg kicks. Noons lets loose his jab and starts to get some momentum back. Cerrone whips a kick across Noons' body, but can't get away from a few more punches. Noons is aggressive in the final minute, but it gets him into trouble. Cerrone counters with a right hand and, when Noons backs up, staggers him with a shin across the face. Another head kick goes for Cerrone. Noons throws a spin kick and comes forward at the end of the round. Cerrone is up 10-9 on the Sun's scorecard.

Pre-main card

A clarification to anyone left confused by the preponderance of flags on site at MGM Grand this evening: There’s no minor gathering of the nations on tap for tonight.

It’s just a rather major fight card. And one where UFC President Dana White’s long-held insistence on mixed martial arts having a global reach rings true.

In the four headlining bouts of tonight’s UFC 160, fighters from six different countries will compete. And the United States is not the lone nation with more than one countryman at the top of the card.

That distinction belongs to Brazil, as the MMA-hotbed has representatives in each of the three highest-billed fights. Rising light heavyweight Glover Teixeira looks for an astounding 18th straight victory against Australian, and former bodyguard of “The Crocodile Hunter,” James Te Huna.

One of Brazil’s biggest stars, as evidenced by his recent Nike sponsorship, appears in the co-main event as Junior dos Santos enters as a major favorite against New Zealand’s Mark Hunt.

Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva will undoubtedly root for his fellow Brazilians before he steps into the octagon to face Cain Velasquez for the heavyweight title.

Mexico has come out in full force behind Velasquez. A swell of Spanish-speaking media have made their way to Las Vegas for this fight, but they pale in comparison to the number of fans in red, green and white at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

This matchup went Velasquez’s way the first time — easily. He stopped Silva in less than four minutes with ground-and-pound elbows to the forehead when they met a year ago.

Silva cited the dreaded UFC jitters, as it was his first fight in the octagon, and a couple mistakes as a reason for why his performance didn’t turn out the way he planned at UFC 146. He says a more perfected training camp has helped him repair the faults this time around.

To find an American on the card, one must glance all the way down to the fourth fight. That’s where Las Vegas native Gray Maynard takes on Canadian T.J. Grant for the right to become the next lightweight top contender.

Maynard could earn the third title shot of his career with a victory after he memorably fought Frankie Edgar to a draw, and in the ensuing rematch, was knocked out by the champion.

The opening fight on the pay-per-view pits two Americans, more precisely Californians, against each other in a likely striking battle as kickboxers Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone and K.J. Noons battle.

Stay tuned to lasvegassun.com for round-by-round coverage of the main card and look below for full results from the prelimnary card.

Mike Pyle closed his eyes and gritted his teeth as Bruce Buffer read the decision for his welterweight bout against Rick Story. He knew it was that close. Anxiousness turned to celebration when Buffer revealed the judges gave Pyle a split decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-29) over Story. The Sun scored the bout as a 28-28 draw. Pyle came back from a near knockout in the first round to almost submit Story in the second, and won what ended up being the decisive final frame.

Featherweights Dennis Bermudez and Max Holloway can't get away from split decisions. The judges failed to come to a consensus for the second straight bout for both fighters. Although the vast majority of media sided with Holloway, including the Sun at 29-28, Bermudez escaped with a split-decision victory (29-28, 29-28, 28-29) over Holloway in their featherweight bout.

Two winners of "The Ultimate Fighter" put on a memorable performance for the FX preliminary viewers. After getting rocked by a right hand from "TUF" 16 champion Colton Smith in the first hand, "TUF: The Smashes" victor Robert Whittaker came back in a major fashion the rest of the way. Whittaker picked Smith apart before ultimately earning a TKO victory at 0:41 of the third round.

After missing the mark at yesterday's weigh-in, Khabib Nurmagomedov shoved Abel Trujillo across the stage. Nurmagomedov tossed Trujillo around on fight night. Scoring more than one takedown per minute, Nurmagomedov beat Trujillo by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) in their lightweight contest.

Stephen Thompson defeated Nah-shon Burrell by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28) in a welterweight bout. For a fight that was expected to be heavy on striking, Thompson actually won by out-grappling Burrell with a few takedowns and pressure against the fence.

Brian Bowles failed to rediscover the form that made him a WEC bantamweight champion in his first bout in a year and a half. Bowles fell victim to the first upset of the card after a stellar first round. George Roop defeated Bowles by TKO at 1:43 of the second round.

In a bout already being discussed as perhaps the bloodiest in UFC history, Jeremy Stephens beat Estevan Payan by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-26, 30-26). After a close first round, Stephens blasted Payan with strikes in the second round, one of which opened a nickle-deep gash on the newcomer's forehead. Stephens, who made his debut at featherweight, cruised from there.

Case Keefer can be reached at 948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.