...OH, ONE MORE THING - PLEASE BOOKMARK US & VISIT DAILY!
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
The UFC could be in the midst of yet another classic rivalry following UFC 155, as Cain Velasquez took his revenge for a 64-second loss to Junior dos Santos. The dominant five round performance was the ultimate redemption for Velasquez, but the story between the two is far from over.
The UFC hasn't had a major trilogy in some time, and a number of the big rematches they have run in recent years have seen the same results, or in the case of Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir, haven't gotten around to the third fight. Something feels different with dos Santos and Velasquez, and it stands to reason that a third fight will eventually happen.
However, it's not necessarily coming anytime soon. As UFC President Dana White commented after the event, the damage sustained by dos Santos last Saturday night is going to require some time to heal, and from there he'll have to fight his way back through perhaps the UFC's strongest heavyweight field ever.
"I think trilogies are always awesome, especially when both these fights went the way that they did," White said after the fight on Saturday. "I mean, I want to see the third fight. It will be interesting. But this isn't like losing a regular fight. He got beat up pretty bad. It usually takes a little longer to recover from what he went through."
Penick's Analysis: I think Saturday proved that if JDS and Velasquez fought 10 times, it might be 5-5 or 6-4 in one direction. They're both excellent fighters, and though Saturday's fight was completely one sided, there are certain things that happened or didn't happen in that first round that changed the way the rest of the fight went. What if JDS doesn't get cracked by that knock down shot? What if he lands one of those uppercuts flush? This is a rivalry that's far from over, and I think it's just a matter of time before dos Santos gets back to set up a third fight between the two.
[Dana White art by Travis Beaven (c) MMATorch.com]
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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