Who’s the best prospect?
Posted by Bryan Belangia on March 1st, 2010
I was originally going to do a story on Cain Velasquez and his rise in the heavyweight division following his latest win but after writing out a few paragraphs I kind of felt like it was a disservice to heap so much praise on Velasquez and not give equal space to the “other” heavyweight prospect, Junior dos Santos.
What was once arguably the worst division in the UFC is now becoming one of the best. It’s really the only division in the UFC with a singular dominant champion and a group of about four guys that you could justify giving a title shot on merit and talent.
Velasquez has made his case as one of the best heavyweights in the world and possibly for a title shot. Last month, he answered the biggest question abuot his skillset; the difference in his standup game from his past fights to the Nogueira fight is night and day. In all of his early TKO’s his striking and even ground and pound was just sloppy. There’s nothing wrong with that, to this point the guy has only had eight fights. That’s how he’s supposed to look. The UFC was fast tracking him though. He got matched up with Kongo and that’s the fight that really said to me that he’s great at one aspect of MMA, but against the upper echelon of the division he’s really going to struggle. He controlled the striker on the mat and had him in compromising positions but just couldn’t put him away. Against Rothwell he looked just as sloppy. Powerful but sloppy. Then Nogueira- he looked like one of the best strikers in MMA. His hand speed seemed to be double what it was and he’s become much more of a technical striker in the timespan of a single training camp. It’s exactly the kind of special talent that enables you to win a jiu jitsu blue belt championship at the Mundials after only seventeen months of training, and earns Javier Mendez’s praise as the most talented fighter he’s ever trained.
Junior dos Santos arrived in the UFC roughly the same time as Velasquez and with equal success but just hasn’t gotten the same level of hype. He didn’t have the background of being an All-American collegiate wrestler like Velasquez; rather, a kickboxing background in Brazil where he amassed an undefeated record. “Cigano” has already knocked out Fabricio Werdum, Mirko Cro Cop, and Gilbert Yvel in his first four UFC fights. It was Gabe Gonzaga who was supposed to fight dos Santos instead of Yvel, but had to pull out due to staph and luckily we get to see the original fight in just a few weeks on the Versus show. Should dos Santos win that one, the heavyweight title picture becomes even cloudier.
Dos Santos possesses such fast hand speed and such devastating power that a matchup with Velasquez would promise an amazing fight. With the winner of Frank Mir vs. Shane Carwin possibly getting a title shot at Lesnar this summer, dos Santos/Velasquez is a fight that we might actually get to see. When you talk about the future of the sport and rising stars, it’s hard to mention Cain Velasquez without mentioning Junior dos Santos. With these two fighters seemingly becoming the staples of the division, we won’t be short on exciting fights for years to come.