Sure, the November 12th heavyweight title fight on Fox may be scheduled for 5 rounds, but I would bet the house on the fight not going to a decision. Nobody in the UFC (or MMA for that matter) lands as many significant strikes per minute as Cain Velasquez and Junior Dos Santos at 7.46 and 6.79 respectively. To put it into perspective, Cain lands almost 2 more significant strikes per minute than Nick Diaz. JDS has Mr 209 by almost 1. And these dudes are heavyweights. I think someone may be getting knocked out in the house the Simpsons built.
Now granted, Cain Velasquez is one of UFC history’s most prolific take down artists and we haven’t seen JDS work off his back well, ever. The only time he’s been taken down in his seven UFC fights was by possible Fedor opponent Gabe Gonzaga. But even if that does happen, it’s not in Cain’s blood to go to a decision.
I guess that was my really long winded and stat filled way of saying that this fight is going to be really good and it’s going to be totally free.
Junior spoke with the always awesome Sergio Non of USA Today and broke down his preparation for his title fight on UFC’s debut Fox show. Check it out.
Cain is, for sure, going to be my biggest challenge. He’s fast. He has excellent stamina. His cardio’s out of control. He’s got phenomenal takedowns and a really impressive ground game.
To be honest, he’s a really complete fighter and fast, unlike most heavyweights. I believe strongly that he’s going to be my biggest and most challenging challenge to date. I hope that I’m going to be the same to him; I hope that I’ll be his biggest challenge to date, as well.
Conventional wisdom suggests that the highest-percentage strategy for Cain revolves around taking you down. How do you keep him from controlling you on the ground with his wrestling?
For sure, Cain’s going to try to take me down. I would agree with you that that would be the conventional wisdom.
In my game, I always look for the knockout. I’m going to look for it against Cain. I would love to knock out Cain Velasquez.
But I’m going to be ready for wherever the fight winds up. The truth is, you guys haven’t really seen my ground game yet.
If Cain Velasquez takes me down 10 times, I’m going to get up 10 times. I’m not sure Cain is going to be able to take 10 of my punches.
As you noted, he has a lot of speed. How do you mimic that in training camp?
You’re right; we’re both very fast. That’s what makes us similar to one another and different from most other heavyweights. We both have a lot of agility and a lot of speed, and it makes a big difference in a fight.
But we have different styles. Cain is more ground-and-pound and I’m more of a stand-up guy, so I think what’s ultimately going to make the difference in the fight is excellent strategy and being able to execute on the strategy.
I had great experience in my last two fights and I was able to really follow through on my strategy. I think that that’s really going to be where the difference in this fight is going to lie.
What weaknesses do you see in Cain?
I don’t really see very many weaknesses in Cain’s game. I think he’s a really complete fighter.
He’s very skilled in all the areas. His wrestling’s great. His jiu-jitsu’s great. He has excellent Muay Thai. He has good boxing. So I’m not sure I would see weaknesses.
But it’s not really about his weaknesses as much as it is about my strengths. If I can keep this game standing, I take all the advantage in a really big way. If the game goes to the ground, I’m prepared for that too and I’ll get to show the world my ground game.
You can finish reading the interview here and thanks to FightMetric for the cool numbers.
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