This past Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, we were gifted a great night of fights at UFC 155. In a fantastic main event we saw Cain Velasquez at his best, the Mexican fighter showed everyone that he has improved greatly since his first encounter with Junior Dos Santos. In their first fight Cain never had an opportunity to implement a game plan, but this time round he did. Velasquez managed to cause early damage to Dos Santos and tire him out very early with his superior grappling. After the first round it simply became Cain's fight, and he was able to control and dominate Junior Dos Santos in ways that we have never witnessed before. After five grueling championship rounds which resulted in a lopsided decision, Velasquez was once again crowned UFC heavyweight champion.
The co-main event featured a lightweight matchup between Joe Lauzon and Jim Miller. This fight became a bloody war after Miller opened up a nasty cut on Lauzon's head in the first round. Both men showed great heart providing a stand-up battle that will not easily be forgotten. At moments in the fight we saw the men showcase their high level Jiu Jitsu skills, and battle through fight ending situations. This fight was well deserving of "Fight of the Night" honors and could easily be considered for "Fight of the Year" in my opinion. A great bout between two well rounded fighters who left everything in the cage, great stuff.
It is also worth mentioning the return of Todd Duffee who scored a first round TKO victory over Phil De Fries on the preliminary segment of the card. He looked in great shape and has clearly benefited from training with Cain Velasquez and Daniel Cormier over at AKA. It is not just his Mixed Martial Arts skills that have improved, you can see that he has matured as a person, which could be attributed to the great company that he keeps whilst training. I am definitely interested to see what impact Duffee has on the heavyweight division over the course of 2013.
UFC 155 provided a great fight card stacked with talent, a perfect event to round off the year. I can't wait to see what happens in 2013 with the introduction of the Strikeforce fighters who will be moving over to the UFC, it should be fun!
Written by Jay Cee.
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