Junior Dos Santos was able to defend his heavyweight title against two times champion Frank Mir in front of approximately 14,000 people at the MGM Grand Garden. The bout was finished in the second round, three minutes and four seconds to be exact after Santos handed Mir a wicked right hand. The fans of mainly Brazilians were energized and fully behind Dos Santos, pushing him to victory.
Santos was able to get by Mir’s jiu-jitsu game and use his strikes to put the game to his advantage. Mir wasn’t able to do much offensively and I only remember one attempted take down from him in during the entire fight. He did prove however that he can be a punching target as he absorbed hits after hits, showing great resilience and toughness.
Dos Santos first real attack came late in the first round as he was able to combine about eight or so punches to the body of Mir who was backed up on the cage and it was only the sound of the bell that came to Mir’s rescue.
If Mir was successful in getting the fight to the ground we could be talking about a whole different scenario as his ground game is phenomenal. The fact that the fight was kept standing was a huge disadvantage for him. Mir admitted that his inability to take Dos Santos to the ground had cost him the match and that he knew he was in trouble. Dos Santos was just too good for him as he was faster and stronger and the superior fighter on the day.
Not many persons realize how hard it is in the MMA to defend your title as it hardly ever happens. My hat definitely goes off to Dos Santos and I have respected him even more as a player. The champion is surely paving his path to an undisputed star.
