UFC 131: Dos Santos breaks Carwin, earns title shot......

Not too many people predicted the main event at UFC 131 would end in a decision. Even the two heavyweights battling for a title shot thought it would end quickly. The fact that it lasted all three rounds didn't make it any less of an exciting fight, and while we would have all loved a spectacular KO from either of these elite strikers they still put on an incredible show.

Props have to be given to Shane Carwin. The Engineer showed incredible heart, and improved cardio in what turned out to be an epic battle, one that he nearly lost at the end of the first round as Dos Santos rained punches down onto him, much like Carwin did to Lesnar at the end of their first round back at UFC 116 nearly a year ago, only this time he was on the receiving end. His face was bloodied, his nose broken broken, but you could still see as he stood there for the 3rd round, that Shane Carwin wanted to be a fucking fighter.

What's next for Carwin? Who know's?!? There's a plethora of rich and exciting talent in the Heavyweight division and no doubt we'll all be playing matchmaker for him over the next couple of months. If I had to make a pick, off the top of my head I'd have to say..... Carwin vs Travis Browne.

That leads us to last nights victor. One of the most fluid and effective strikers in MMA today, he's a humble man and a great ambassador for the sport, but make no bones about it Junior Dos Santos is a bad motherfucker. He skillfully picked Carwin apart last night making use of his slick jab and always effective lead uppercut. There was a great show of confidence in his boxing, especially when you think about who he was standing in front of, it was a confidence that only faltered for a moment after he got clipped by Carwin against the cage in the 2nd round. At least I think it was the 2nd, but after a joint, 6 beers, time spent drooling over our hosts Austin Martin Vantage and a cigar that made my head spin like a top, it's sometimes hard to remember all the little details.

One thing that sticks in my mind is that he even displayed some wrestling skills when she slammed his bloodied opponent to the ground, twice, during the 3rd round (again, I think it was the 3rd, so fuzzy). Dos Santos proved last night that's he's the legitimate #1 contender and a serious threat to Cain Velasquez's title.

Up next.....

KTFO...

Behold Sam Stouts impressive and brutal KO of Yves Edwards at UFC 131 last night in Vancouver. The heavy handed Canadian won KO of the Night, and a challenge from another winner on the card, Donald Cerone.

Shane Carwin is back on track for his title shot....

There were many firsts during Shane Carwin's title shot against Brock Lesner at UFC 116. It was the first time anyone had survived a barrage of punches from the The Engineer. It was the first time we'd even seen Carwin in a 2nd round! And most importantly it was the first loss of his career, a loss where he made a few mistakes, ones he won't be willing to make again.

As he stood ready for the 2nd round you could see the exhaustion in his face, and so could Brock. He knew he had nothing left, he'd left everything in round one. When he saw Brock was hurt in the 1st he went for the finish throwing everything he had at the champ, but it wasn't enough. When Lesner tightened up the arm triangle on Carwin in the 2nd it was game over.

If Carwin had picked his shots a little better on the grounded champ it may have ended a little different. Apparently we all learn from our mistakes (ok, maybe not ALL of us) and Shane Carwin will likely have learned from his loss against Brock, and he wasn't the only one that learned something that night. Cain Velasquez watched that fight and didn't make the same mistakes, his shots on Lesner were more methodical, more precise, and more effective. Carwin knows he could have beaten Brock, and so do we.

After the loss Carwin new it might be a long road to get back into title contention as it usually is. But it seems he just found a short cut, courteous of the man that gave him his first loss. With Lesner now out of his #1 contender bout against Brazilian power house Junior Dos Santos, Carwin has agreed to step in to earn a shot at Heavyweight Champ Cain Velasquez.

Has Carwins cardio improved? Has his back healed after surgery? Has he learnt from his costly mistakes? We'll find out June 11th.

The matchup between Dos Santos and Carwin is far more appealing to me than Lesner vs Dos Santos. These two heavy hitters will go in there to KTFO each other with extreme prejudice. Anyone that sees this thing going into the second round is nuts! But to be fair, that's what I said when he fought Lesner....

With Jon Fitch hurt, Carlos Condit may step in to face PJ Penn....

After Penn drew against Fitch I had no desire to see these guys try to hump each other to death again. Instead of a rematch I suggested here on the site a couple more exciting and interesting match ups. One of those was Penn vs Condit, and now it looks like that wish might come true.

After hearing of Fitch's withdraw from his second crack at The Prodigy, Condit said this:

"It would be an honor to fight a legend like BJ Penn, one of my favorite fighters ever. If the call comes, I would take the fight in a second."


Granted it's the bog standard "calling out" that any fighter in the UFC could have said, but this is potentially a fucking barn burner of a fight! Condit has lost only 1 of his last 12 fights, and other than his loss to Kampmann he hasn't lost since 2006! I also doubt he'll try to hump BJ into a submission. His knockout of Dan Hardy was nothing short of spectacular and proved he was ready for the next step, and this is the perfect opportunity. 


The UFC has been pretty good at putting these kind of match ups together lately. With Dan Hardy calling out Lytle, and the acceptance of that challenge, and now Condit gunning for Penn.... these guys are making Joe Silvas job a little easier! 


Both of these fights (should they happen) could prove to be two of this years best...

The Next Generation....

I haven't done well with my picks lately. I picked Vitor over Anderson, Hughes over Penn, Penn over Edgar the 2nd time, and yes you guessed it.... I picked Shogun over Bones. It's another reason I love MMA because you never know what the fuck is going to happen!!

When Jones suplexed Stephan Bonar I shot Swayze a puzzled look and said "who the fuck is this guy?!" Well now we know exactly how he is. He's the UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. He's the guy that just destroyed Mauricio "Shogun" Rua in a brutally lop sided fight, something I thought I'd never say.

Almost every website is a little reluctant to start speculating just how long Jones will be champ, we've made that mistake before when Machida won the belt, but one controversial decision and one KTFO later and the Machida Era was over. We don't want to make the same mistake with Bones, but can he really be put into the same context as Machida? Personally I don't think he should, this man is something else and I truly believe that he will be the champ for a while. I don't see Rashad being able to work his game plan against Jones, but these two have trained together for a long time and they know each other very well, but will it make any difference? We'll find out soon enough.

Jones is the start of a new breed, something Joe Rogan talks about a lot. These athletes with amazing ability to learn and move forward at a phenomenal rate. Have we reached the "Jones Era"?? We'll wait till he's defended his title a few times against some top contenders and then we'll decide that. But it's probably a safe bet....