On Saturday, Bay Area MMA was on show for one of the biggest fights in the sports' history for UFC on Fox 1: Velasquez vs. Dos Santos. Can Velasquez, California native was defending his title against the Brazilian Junior dos Santos in the main event, and it was certainly explosive. Velasquez would go on to fall at 1:04 in the very first round, when dos Santos landed a huge overhand right flush on the temple and swarmed to get the stoppage, landing several shots to the floored Velasquez.
In post-fight interviews, dos Santos was extremely humble and in tears, and Velasquez was adamant that he'd be getting his belt back. It's a downer to see Velasquez, who fights out of the Bay Area, suffer the first loss of his career, but that was a huge fight for the sport and the promotion, and he should be honored to have been a part of it.
The Fox broadcast was really top shelf, with the normal music at the beginning and the familiar Cut Menefee talking with UFC President Dana White. Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg were still loud and boisterous, but were restrained and made limited mistakes throughout. The entirety of the presentation was so concentrated and defined to the very minute details - including a clean ring. That's right, before the main event, a crew covered up the dried blood from past fights, because for some reason, seeing blood without knowing exactly where it came from is more unsettling than seeing it drip from somebody's face.
Below is the play-by-play as the fight happened.
Round 1
We are live, with Junior Dos Santos quickly taking the center of the octagon, and Velasquez slowly moving in. Celasquez throws a quick leg kick and dos Santos lands with a right hand, but it's a small one. Dos Santos goes for a risky front kick, and Velasquez catches it, but can't get a takedown. Velasquez looks for another leg kick, but Dos Santos circles away. Dos Santos swing a huge overhand right and Velasquez takes it on the temple and dos Santos swarms, landing a few shots and referee "Big" John McCarthy steps in to stop it.
Junior dos Santos wins via TKO at 1:04 of the very first round and is the new UFC Heavyweight Champion.