Sherdog’s Top 10: Brutal Beatdowns

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1. Cain Velasquez vs. Junior dos Santos
Dec. 29, 2012 | Oct. 19, 2013
Velasquez won the Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight title from Brock Lesnar in devastating fashion at UFC 121 in October 2010. Young, incredibly skilled, a marvel of endurance and marketable to the Latino audience the UFC had long coveted, Velasquez looked to be the next big star in MMA. A shoulder injury kept him out for more than a year, but his first title defense offered a huge opportunity to make a name for himself: Velasquez headlined the UFC’s inaugural effort on Fox against Brazilian bomber Junior dos Santos. One overhand right later, and all of those plans were ashes.

Velasquez absolutely destroyed Antonio Silva in May 2012 to earn another shot at dos Santos and a chance to reclaim the heavyweight crown. The rematch was set for UFC 155. Dos Santos was the favorite, but the fight turned out to be one of the more stunningly one-sided beatings in the sport’s history. Velasquez pushed “Cigano” to the fence, beat him up in the clinch, spammed takedowns and generally exhausted the Brazilian, all the while landing hard shot after hard shot that left dos Santos’ face a grotesquely swollen mask. Velasquez earned one 10-8 round from one judge and two from another en route to a lopsided decision victory.

Dos Santos earned himself a shot at regaining the title with a knockout win over Mark Hunt, and showed up lean, mean and ready to fight at UFC 166. While he did a much better job of stuffing takedowns this time around, he had no answers for Velasquez’s constant pressure and stifling clinch game, and once again, his face became a lumpy, bloody mess from the constant pounding of the champion’s fists; and this time, dos Santos did not make it to the final bell. With two minutes left, “Cigano” tried for a desperate sacrifice throw to get off the fence, slammed his head into the ground and essentially knocked himself unconscious.

Velasquez and dos Santos are easily the two best heavyweights on the planet and belong in a class of their own. It is a testament to how far Velasquez is above dos Santos that he was able to put not one but two absolutely epic beatings on him.

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HONORABLE MENTIONS: Velasquez vs. Ben Rothwell (UFC 104), Lesnar vs. Frank Mir (UFC 100), Georges St. Pierre vs. Jon Fitch (UFC 87), Rich Franklin vs. David Loiseau (UFC 58), B.J. Penn vs. Joe Stevenson (UFC 80), Penn vs. Diego Sanchez (UFC 107), Cristiane Justino vs. Gina Carano (Strikeforce “Carano vs. Cyborg”), Glover Texeira vs. Fabio Maldonado (UFC 153), Fedor Emelianenko vs. Mark Coleman (Pride 32), Emelianenko vs. Heath Herring (Pride 23), Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Abel Trujillo (UFC 160)



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