7. Junior dos Santos vs. Cain Velasquez
Oct. 19, 2013 | Houston
Velasquez when healthy has been one of the best heavyweights ever to compete inside the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He surrendered the heavyweight title to dos Santos at UFC on Fox 1, recaptured it with a lopsided decision a year later and then settled their score in the rubber match in October 2013. An insane amount of hype preceded their trilogy bout at UFC 166, but it never lived up to the expectations.
Though he was hit several times and suffered a broken nose, Velasquez dominated. Dos Santos was all but withered by the fifth round, as he had been tortured for the better part of 20 minutes and was bleeding from cuts on his grotesquely swollen face. To his credit, “Cigano” never stopped trying. Finally, midway through the fifth round, dos Santos attempted a guillotine choke, struck his head on the canvas and turtled until referee Herb Dean called for the stoppage.
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