UFC 160: May 25, 2013 MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada UFC Heavyweight Contender Junior dos Santos (-460) Profile: Junior dos Santos (15-2) is coming off a unanimous decision loss to Cain Velasquez at UFC 155 in which he was thoroughly dominated and ended up losing the heavyweight title belt. Dos Santos had registered a second-round TKO of Frank Mir at UFC 146 last May to successfully defend his UFC heavyweight championship for the first time after upsetting Velasquez with a first-round KO at UFC on FOX 1 to earn the belt six months earlier. The 29-year-old Brazilian has just one other blemish on his career record, but that occurred more than five years ago in Brazil’s Mo Team League against a fighter he had previously beaten in Joaquim Ferreira. Dos Santos had won 10 bouts in a row since suffering that loss, with eight of those coming in the UFC. Of his nine career UFC fights, just three have gone the distance, with dos Santos earning unanimous decision wins over Roy Nelson at UFC 117 and Shane Carwin at UFC 131 before losing to Velasquez. UFC Heavyweight Contender Mark Hunt (+320) Profile: One of the most feared strikers in all of combat sports, Mark Hunt (9-7) is legendary in K-1′s storied history. He was a former K-1 Grand Prix champ and had a final kickboxing record of 30-13 before moving to Pride to begin his MMA career, starting out 5-1 with notable upsets of Wanderlei Silva and Mirko Cro Cop. However, he would then lose six fights in a row to the likes of Fedor Emelianenko, Josh Barnett, Alistair Overeem, Gegard Mousasi and Melvin Manhoef, who is the only man to knock out. At the age of 27, Hunt transitioned from Japan to the UFC in a debut fight against journeyman Sean McCorkle, losing quickly via a straight armbar. He has since bounced back with four straight wins, including a Knockout of the Night performance against Chris Tuscherer, a tiring decision over Ben Rothwell and a brutal TKO of Cheick Kongo. Hunt’s latest Knockout of the Night bonus came at UFC on FUEL TV 8, where he broke Stefan Struve’s jaw in front of his Japanese fans. Opening UFC 160 Odds Analysis: MMA oddsmaker Nick Kalikas made dos Santos a large -460 favorite (bet $460 to win $100) while Hunt opened as a +320 underdog (bet $100 to win $320) at Several Bookmakers sportsbook. While Hunt’s career MMA record will not blow anyone away, his knockout power certainly could as Struve can attest. This bout figures to start as a stand-up fight between two excellent punchers, giving the underdog a real opportunity if he can land some shots on the former champ. Dos Santos showed a real weakness on the ground in his loss to Velasquez but would be wise to try to take Hunt down and use some ground-and-pound on him. Hunt has been submitted six times in his career as well, so this would be the perfect time for dos Santos to showcase his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu skills and prove he is a more well-rounded fighter. However, dos Santos seems to be on a mission to prove he can knock out Hunt instead, which could obviously backfire on him if he is unable to connect with any substantial blows. UFC president Dana White has already stated that Hunt will get the next shot at the heavyweight title if he can score a knockout, so he should be more motivated than ever to turn the tables on JDS and shock the world at UFC 160.
