ANOTHER WEEK, ANOTHER really stacked UFC card to feast our eyes upon with this weekend’s action dominated by posturing at the top-end of the heavyweight division.
In the main event of the evening, current UFC Heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez will defend his belt against Antonio Silva, a man he beat convincingly when the two first met back at UFC 146.
The former champ, Junior dos Santos, takes on one of the most devastating strikers in the division, Mark Hunt, who finally made it to Vegas after some well-documented visa issues.
Elsewhere on a heavily stacked card, Glover Teixeira stakes his title claims as he faces James Te Huna; Gray Maynard returns to action against T.J. Grant and the always exciting Donald Cerrone faces K.J.
Noons.
Velasquez vs Silva II
It wasn’t much of a contest first time round for these two as Velasquez dispatched Silva in less than four minutes of their bout but wins over Travis Browne and Alistair Overeem since that contest have brought ‘Bigfoot’ Silva right back into title contention.
Velasquez bounced back from his defeat to Junior dos Santos in November 2011 in supreme style, beating both Silva and dos Santos convincingly and there isn’t a lot to suggest that the outcome of Saturday’s fight will be any different from the first.
Overeem made the fatal mistake of underestimating Silva’s undoubted power; something that Velasquez is much too experienced to do and, while Silva does possess some frightening power, Velasquez is superior in almost every department.
While Silva might be a little more tentative this time round, he will surely only be prolonging the inevitable as Velasquez should be able to finish him whether it is on the feet or on the mat.
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JDS and Hunt both hungry for title shot
The winner of the second heavyweight fight of the night between Junior dos Santos and Mark Hunt will most likely face the winner of Velasquez/Silva making up the division’s next title bout.
Dos Santos was truly humbled by Velasquez in his last bout while Mark Hunt is riding the crest of a four fight win streak that has seen him KO Stefan Struve and Cheick Kongo along the way so this makes for a very interesting fight.
The two possess differing styles, the Brazilian a more athletic and technical striker while ‘The Super Samoan’ is a seriously heavy-hitting brawler. In all likelihood, this should be a stand-up war with JDS attacking from the outside as Hunt looks to get in close an utilize some dirty boxing.
Dos Santos looked invincible up until his last defeat and he must find some of that form if he is to overcome Hunt. As always, if dos Santos is to prevail, he must avoid the big right hand of Hunt and use his superior speed to grab the win.
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Best of the rest
Donald Cerrone looked nailed on for a shot at the lightweight title before running into an Anthony Pettis at the height of his powers. He begins another title-tilt against K.J. Noons, a man who is really struggling to find a win. Noons has lost four of his last five and if form is anything to go by, he is staring another defeat square on here.
Glover Teixeira has not disappointed since his move to the UFC seeing off the likes of Quinton Jackson, Fabio Maldonado and Kyle Kingsbury in all variety of methods. James Te Huna has won his last four fights but Teixeira is too much of a step up in class for him to expect victory this weekend.
Despite being out of action for nearly a year, Gray Maynard has a chance for another title shot this time against Ben Henderson, if he can get past T.J. Grant. This is very close on paper as Grant has won his last four but expect Maynard to call upon his wrestling skills to grind out a victory here.
