UFC 155: December 29, 2012 Las Vegas, Nevada UFC Heavyweight Champion Junior dos Santos (-150) Profile: Junior dos Santos (15-1) is coming off a dominant second-round TKO of Frank Mir at UFC 146 on May 26 to successfully defend his UFC heavyweight title for the first time. The 27-year-old Brazilian has just one blemish on his career record, but that occurred nearly five years ago in Brazil’s Mo Team League against a fighter he had previously beaten in Joaquim Ferreira. Dos Santos has won 10 bouts in a row since suffering that loss, with eight of those coming in the UFC. Of those eight UFC fights, just two have gone the distance, with dos Santos earning unanimous decision wins over Roy Nelson at UFC 117 and Shane Carwin at UFC 131. The victory against Carwin earned dos Santos a title shot vs. former heavyweight champ Cain Velasquez, who he knocked out in the first round at the first UFC on FOX event last November 12. UFC Heavyweight #1 Contender Cain Velasquez (+120) Profile: Cain Velasquez (10-1) rebounded from his first career loss to dos Santos by registering a first-round TKO of Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva at UFC 146. The 29-year-old Mexican-American is the former UFC heavyweight champ who lost in his first title defense to dos Santos at the first UFC on FOX event last November 12. Velasquez was stunned by dos Santos with a knockout at 1:04 of the first round after previously looking nearly unbeatable in his first nine MMA fights. Ten of Velasquez’ 11 bouts have ended by KO/TKO, with the other resulting in a unanimous decision victory against Cheick Kongo at UFC 99. Velasquez earned the heavyweight title with a first-round TKO of Brock Lesnar at UFC 121 before losing the belt to dos Santos. Opening UFC 155 Odds Analysis: MMA oddsmaker Nick Kalikas opened the current champion dos Santos as a slight -150 favorite (bet $150 to win $100) against the former champ Velasquez, the +120 underdog (bet $100 to win $120) according to the MMA odds. While Velasquez may have simply been caught by dos Santos in the first fight, he still lost and will be hard-pressed to duplicate what he did to Silva in the rematch here. What was really apparent in the first meeting between these two fighters was the height advantage for dos Santos, who stands three inches taller at 6-foot-4. Dos Santos is a bigger and stronger man who could be the most dangerous striker in MMA. Velasquez also has enormous power but will be facing a much quicker opponent than anybody he has fought before as well. Dos Santos and Velasquez are the top two heavyweights in the MMA OddsBreaker MMA Fighter Rankings.
