The UFC 160 card scheduled for Memorial Day weekend will have serious title implications in the UFC’s heavyweight division. The card is headlined by Cain Velasquez vs. Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva II in the first defense of Velaquez’ second title reign, and it is co-headlined by a battle between former champion Junior dos Santos and top contender Alistair Overeem. The winners of both matches will likely fight for the title, as the only other UFC match in the division with potential title implications is Stefan Struve vs. Mark Hunt at UFC on FUEL TV 8. That match goes down the first week of March at the UFC event scheduled for Tokyo, Japan, but the winner will likely get a title shot down the road after the dust clears on the Memorial Day matches and the two winners meet. The title fight between Velasquez and Silva is a rematch – and Velasquez ran over Silva in the first round when they met the first time back in May of 2012 at UFC 146. For that match, Velasquez was favored by a decent amount, but a lot has changed since then. Silva had lost to Daniel Cormier in his match prior to that, but he still was the man who dethroned Fedor Emelianenko in the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix tournament. Questions surrounded Velasquez, as he was coming off his first career loss (to dos Santos), and he had been out of action nursing injuries for a considerable amount of time. Both men come into this second encounter with a lot more positives, but the line will likely open with Velasquez as an even bigger favorite than the first time around. Velasquez dominated dos Santos from start to finish in his last outing, recapturing the UFC Heavyweight Title. Silva took out Overeem, which was very impressive, but he was down on the cards and what he did successfully against Overeem, which was to weather the storm and gas the muscle-bound Overeem out, is really not the correct strategy to defeat Velasquez. Velasquez has proven he will not tire, even in the championship rounds. As the fight wears on, Velasquez will keep the punishment going throughout the entire five rounds. Dos Santos and Overeem is a fight that has a whole different vibe. Both men are coming of career-altering losses and it will be interesting to see which of the two bounces back and how. Overeem fully expected to be fighting for the title next; instead, he may be looking at a hungry ex-champion who is an elite ‘tough customer’ if his head is on straight. Overeem will be bigger and longer, but not by much, and after his last outing, it is unclear of the ‘Reem’ has the muscle explosion he once had, and he clearly grew tired as the match wore on. Dos Santos has KO power of his own, and his tank of gas has never really been a problem. Look for dos Santos to come in the favorite for this fight, but not by an overwhelming amount. He will likely open as roughly a -200 favorite against Overeem. Look for the lines to open at the sportsbooks in the coming days and weeks — that is when things get really interesting!
