[Kin]

I'm really glad Cain won. I like him more than JDS. I was worried a few times in the fight though.

On a thread related to their prior fight I asserted that Cain is a more technical striker than JDS. I'd like to openly admit that I was mistaken in that claim. I have a bias towards fighters who pressure their opponents with combinations and a varied attack, utilizing kicks and punches. While Cain does this and Dos Santos does not, it truly is Dos Santos who throws crisper shots and utilizes better set ups and angles. To those who I argued with about this last fight, I was wrong.

THAT SAID, one of my biggest complaints about JDS (which i am not retracting, and I feel is more valid than ever) is that he's a bully in the ring. If you're afraid of him and give him tons of respect, he'll run over you. In those situations, where he can work his setups and body punches, he is a destroyer of men. But if someone gets in his face and refuses to be bullied, he doesn't look so great anymore.

This was revealed to me by his fight with Roy Nelson and was highlighted in yesterdays bout. JDS is a better striker than Cain, but Cain just got up in his face and hammered him. Yes, the threat of a takedown played a significant role, but even so JDS just doesn't respond well to that kind of pressure. And that's why Cain was successful.

Interestingly enough, though, I've become a much bigger fan of JDS after this fight. Why? Well his heart obviously played a part in winning me over, but even more so, I was SUPER impressed by his takedown defense and ability to scramble back on to his feet. Cain's smashed some serious guys with his top control and he couldn't keep Dos Santos down for any serious length of time. (Though he definitely did some damage with what control he had.)

Towards the end of the third, Cain faded quite a bit. They came in small bursts, but JDS returned with some fast and heavy hands. As Cain got slower, I was getting seriously worried that Dos Santos would come from behind with a KO.

Amazing fight overall! Screw the people who were booing.

[No_Mercy]

Yah, I've long since set aside favoritism. Tough to do with emotions involved. BJ vs Diaz, Crocop vs everyone, Swick, etc. But ya gotta look at all elements. Cain was relentless and he stifled JDS's boxing and tired em out. The Roy Nelson fight showed me that after the third round he begins to tire significantly. Any striker won't do well against a fighter who sticks to em like glue constantly pressuring. Also Cain is NOT an ordinary fighter. He has cardio for days. Try doing a drop step takedown for a full five minutes and you'll be out of breath. Add that for a full 25 minutes and you'll see how damn impressive Cain's conditioning is. That's his SINGLE biggest weapon; conditioning.

Aftermath...

Cormier drops to LHW for the title shot.
JDS can KO Big Foot into oblivion again. The only other HW with crisp boxing is Arlovski EXCEPT he doesn't have the chin JDS has.

*NOTES* Although JDS was exhausted he showed tremendous will power.
Best takedown defense in the HW division.

Remember, Cain threw everything at em and did NOT finish. I should have stuck with my original prediction a year ago with a five round UD. I went with 4th round TKO Cain. Anyways in 2014 they will rematch again and I do believe JDS will take it to end the trilogy. I will place a nice let bet. I think it's destiny man. These two are at the top of the food chain.

[cookiefritas]

Great fight, Cain is an impressive man with his extraordinary cardio.

I think JDS made a mistake in focusing on his "strength" on this training camp. He looked bulked up a bit and his cardio dropped a ton due to this. He looked gassed by the middle of the first round and the big overhand right just took his gas tank to almost empty.

He also looked to fall in love with the big shot and didn't fire off combinations like he used to.

I think the trilogy will be even better of a fight.

[SM33]

Amazing stuff from Cain, his plan was to charge in and hope something lands - it worked. Impressive because he went for takedowns immediately, JDS shrugged them off and he didn't let it knock his confidence.

Do not sleep on JDS though, he showed some amazing stuff in this fight. Heart and toughness, obviously, but the ability to land shots, defend takedowns, and get out from under Cain when he looked ready to die? That is sensational, that is some serious skill that is properly instinctual.

JDS is in the same spot Cain was a year ago, except he looked much better in his loss.

[No_Mercy]

Originally Posted by cookiefritas

Great fight, Cain is an impressive man with his extraordinary cardio.

I think JDS made a mistake in focusing on his "strength" on this training camp. He looked bulked up a bit and his cardio dropped a ton due to this. He looked gassed by the middle of the first round and the big overhand right just took his gas tank to almost empty.

He also looked to fall in love with the big shot and didn't fire off combinations like he used to.

I think the trilogy will be even better of a fight.

Good call. For the rubber fight against Cain he has to drop 10 - 15 pounds and focus on one thing actually two things. How to connect when Cain comes in; left kick, knee or uppercut. He was trying to do the latter, but he's too tall and Cain drops very quickly.

Second, cut weight to increase mobility and conditioning. Anderson did this against Chael by coming in lighter in their rematch. He was much leaner cuz he was prepared for another five rounder. Anderson is the only one much like Fedor who can game plan INSIDE the Octagon.

Unfortunately he was smothered so he couldn't land his combinations.

End notes. Cain had 13 months to study this and create a proper game plan.

Originally Posted by SM33

Amazing stuff from Cain, his plan was to charge in and hope something lands - it worked. Impressive because he went for takedowns immediately, JDS shrugged them off and he didn't let it knock his confidence.

Do not sleep on JDS though, he showed some amazing stuff in this fight. Heart and toughness, obviously, but the ability to land shots, defend takedowns, and get out from under Cain when he looked ready to die? That is sensational, that is some serious skill that is properly instinctual.

JDS is in the same spot Cain was a year ago, except he looked much better in his loss.

Looks like Bresko has a sig ready for ya...hehe. You should make a long term sig bet right now that JDS will retake it in their rematch. It's going to happen.

I've never seen two fighters in a division clear it out the way they did and dominate. Maybe Rich Franklin, but he faced a very different breed of fighter.

I feel bad for JDS's next opponent. Anyways I'm not a Cain fan, but I call it the way I see it. The DEFINING fight for me was Cain vs Bigfoot. Has anybody ever seen a comeback fight from a a fighter who gets knocked out for the belt. That proved to me beyond a reasonable doubt that he was on a MISSION. He simply took his frustrations out on poor Big Foot and got his sweet revenge on JDS. He'll be back...

[suniis]

Originally Posted by SM33

Amazing stuff from Cain, his plan was to charge in and hope something lands - it worked. Impressive because he went for takedowns immediately, JDS shrugged them off and he didn't let it knock his confidence.

Do not sleep on JDS though, he showed some amazing stuff in this fight. Heart and toughness, obviously, but the ability to land shots, defend takedowns, and get out from under Cain when he looked ready to die? That is sensational, that is some serious skill that is properly instinctual.

JDS is in the same spot Cain was a year ago, except he looked much better in his loss.

Exactly. There are some fighters who don't get to the next level until they have faced defeat.

I believe it was Cain's first loss when he lost the belt, and I could see another level of maturity from him last night.

More so, I think JDS will come back even stronger and will reign on the division for a while (4-5 titles defenses).

[Sugar-Free_LizaG]

I loved how Cain controlled JDS in the 1st round against the cage, much like The Natural Randy Couture liked to do.

And utilizing Half Guard in the 2nd round,much like The Natural Randy Couture liked to do.

[MMA-Sportsman]

Well, it was a great victory for Cain, no doubt about it, but that is just Cain's signature victory, overwelming people as he aways does, so the only thing really impressive about this victory was the fact JDS was the victim this time.
The first TD attempts were real and as they were ridiculously stopped with extreme and comical ease, Cain intelligently started to fake TDs and hit JDS's face hard and repeatedly. Great move showing high fighting IQ and adaptability. It payed off with glory.
Dória, JDS's coach was crazy about his low guard and yelled at him several times to defend himself with no success.

Both great champions, an epic battle and smells like a trilogy, indeed.

[neoseeker]

I like JDS but I think he has been exposed. Whatever happened to his supposed " best boxing in the heavyweight division"? He never put any combination(s) in place and to be honest, he couldn't even lift his right arm. I was shocked to see no offense from him. Did he hits the weights too much in preparation for this fight? He appeared stiff. Congratulations to Cain, he really wanted his belt back and it shows.

[Voiceless]

Originally Posted by GrappleRetarded

As glad as I,am Cain won, there are still holes and still many improvements to be made in his game. I've thought it for a while, but he has almost zero BJJ or submission offense. I'd like to see him develop some what of a submission game with so many of his opponents just literally leaving their neck wide open for the taking.

After all Velasquez did more offensive grappling than the BJJ black belt Dos Santos is supposed to be. Velasquez went for an armbar and a couple of times it looked like he would be going for Dos Santos' back, but the latter turned around in time. But Dos Santos did virtually no offensive grappling. He didn't even commit to a couple of situation where he could have tried for a sweep.