UFC 146 Preview and Results: Dos Santos vs. Mir

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UFC 146 Results

UFC 146 MAIN CARD
265#: Junior Dos Santos (14-1) vs. Frank Mir (16-5) wins by TKO in RD2!
265#: Antonio Silva (16-3) vs. Cain Velasquez (9-1) wins by TKO in RD1!
265#: Dave Herman (21-3) vs. Roy Nelson (17-7) wins by KO in RD1!
265#: Shane Del Rosario (11-0) vs. Stipe Miocic (8-0) wins by TKO in RD2!
265#: Lavar Johnson (17-5) vs. Stefan Struve (27-5) wins by Arm bar in RD1!

PRELIMINARY BOUTS: FX Channel
145#: Diego Brandao (19-7) vs. Darren Elkins (14-2) wins by Unanimous Decision!
155#: Edson Barboza (10-0) vs. Jamie Varner (19-6-1 2NC) wins by KO in RD1!
185#: C.B. Dalloway (12-5) vs. Jason “Mayhem” Miller (24-9 1NC) wins by Unanimous Decision!
170#: Dan Hardy (23-10 1NC) vs. Duane “Bang” Ludwig (29-12) wins by KO in RD1!

PRELIMINARY BOUTS: Facebook
155#: Paul Sass (13-0) vs. Jacob Volkmann (14-3) wins by Triangle/Armbar Combination in RD1!
205#: Kyle Kingsbury (11-4 1NC) vs. Glover Teixeira (18-2) wins by Arm Triangle in RD1!
145#: Mike Brown (26-8) vs. Daniel Pineda (17-8) wins by Unanimous Decision!

by Joe Silvia

Ultimate Fighting Championship 146 takes place Saturday May 26, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, featuring an “All Heavyweight Main Card.” The first two preliminary bouts will be broadcast free on the UFC Facebook page. The remainder of the preliminary bouts will then be broadcast on FX at 8 PM EST, before going live to Pay-Per-View starting at 10 PM EST. In addition, the half hour “Countdown to UFC 146” show debuts Wednesday morning at midnight on FUEL TV. Replays at 5 p.m. and 10PM the same day and Thursday at 8 PM and Friday at 1:30 AM.

Frank Mir vs Junior Dos Santos: UFC Heavyweight Championship Bout
Perhaps the best heavyweight striker in the sport, regardless of organization, Brazilian Junior Dos Santos combines excellent footwork, clean strikes in combination, heavy power and phenomenal takedown defense in a tough to beat style. His sole loss was in 2007 by armbar to Joaquim Ferreira at MTL: Final, a Sao Paolo, Brazil event. He has since spent time with training partners the Nogueira brothers, two high level submission artists, to shore up the weakness. Dos Santos who has had nine bouts in his UFC career, has finished seven of these fights. The two that went to a decision were Roy Nelson and Shane Carwin, but they took a sever battering and came close to being finished on a number of occasions. One thing you can bet the house on with Dos Santos is that his opponent WILL get hit. Dos Santos has won the Knockout of the Night award on three occasions.

Frank Mir replaces Alistair Overreem who was originally scheduled to fight for the heavyweight title after beating Brock Lesnar, but was ousted after testing positive for a 14:1 testosterone-epitestosterone ratio in early April. This will be Mir’s 20th bout in the UFC, and 5th attempt at the Heavyweight title. He won the championship by beating Tim Sylvia at UFC 48 in 2004, and won the Interim Heavyweight Belt against “Big Nog” at UFC 92. He lost his attempts against Brock Lesnar at UFC 100 and against Shane Carwin at UFC 111.

Mir is perhaps most famous for his aggressive application of submissions that result in broken bones and torn ligaments. When he won the heavyweight belt at UFC 48 against “Big” Tim Sylvia he applied an armbar from the guard that broke Tim’s forearm in two places. Against “Big Nog” he applied a Kimura or Double Wrist Lock that resulted in a broken humerus. His experience, size, and strength combined with submission prowess equate into one of the most dangerous heavyweights in the division. He has won Submission of the Night bonuses on two occasions. Regardless of who you are, if you are on the ground with Mir, you are in serious danger.

Mir's KimuraMir has seemingly focused on his striking which began to show marked improvement in his bout with Antonio Nogueira at UFC 92 which resulted in a TKO victory against one of the best chins in the history of the sport. His subsequent bout against Cheick Kongo was a guillotine choke, but one that was set up by a faked jab and an overhand left that bent Kongo in half and sent him flying a few feet away into the canvas. Since his loss to Shane Carwin at UFC 111 he has strung together wins against Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic, Roy Nelson and Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira.

This fight will come down to whether Mir can get Dos Santos to the ground. Mir has never shown a predilection to try for takedowns and is happy to stand and strike. If he comes in overconfident, which is one of his downfalls, and decides to stand and strike with JDS it could be a short night. This is a fight where Mir needs to have one objective: any way, shape or form, get it to the ground. For JDS to win, he simply needs to do what has worked so well for him already: keep it standing, cut angles, and demand respect with heavy strikes in combination. NBG Pick: Junior Dos Santos

Antonio Silva vs. Cain Velasquez
Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva is making his UFC debut, but is no stranger to the sport. Having spent the past few years in Strikeforce, he went 3-2 defeating Andrei Arlovski, Mike Kyle, and Fedor Emelianenko. In his debut and final fight with that organization he lost against Fabricio Werdum and Daniel Cormier respectively. Antonio prefers to keep it standing, is big and strong, and very difficult to take down. His opponent and past heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez, is no slouch in the take down department. As training partner and wrestling student under Silva’s last opponent Daniel Cormier, he has a template in place on how to defeat the Brazilian. While Cain is known for his pace, cardiovascular endurance and wrestling, he demonstrated substantial power in his TKO victory over Big Nog at UFC 110 and has won the Knockout of the Night award three times.

Bigfoot may have some difficulty with the speed and transitions that Cain brings to the table. He needs to land big shots early and maintain his striking measure to win. Not allowing Cain to set the pace and rhythm of the fight is paramount. Cain simply needs to stay busy and mix his striking and grappling to effect a ground and pound victory. NBG Pick: Cain Velasquez

Dave Herman vs. Roy Nelson
Dave Herman came to the UFC as an impressive, dangerous finisher having only one decision in 24 fights. His debut was against prospect and world class Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner John-Olav Einemo, whom he disposed of in three minutes. However, his next bout against Stefan Struve, he looked lethargic and distant and was TKOed in the first round. His opponent is Roy Nelson, who having gone 3-3 in the UFC and coming off a loss in his last fight against Fabricio Werdum, is in a do-or-die situation in a cut happy organization. While he has always demonstrated tenacity, grit and doggedness, he has yet to show that he has what it takes to belong in the top echelon of fighters.

Del Rosario setting up the armbar on JohnsonHerman needs to stay away from the dynamite that is in Roy Nelson’s right hand and maintain his measure and reach. If he does this, he is en route to doing what many have had trouble with: finishing Nelson. Nelson’s right hand is tailor made for tall opponents and those with a lazy jab and Herman is a perfect candidate. He needs to let his hands go and land that right hand as often as possible. NBG Pick: Dave Herman

Shane Del Rosario vs. Stipe Miocic
This fight has “We’re going to steal the show and get Fight of the Night honors!” written all over it. Del Rosario, who is the first American to win the WBC Muay Thai championships, is a finishing machine. In kickboxing he went 8-1, with eight knockouts. In MMA, he is 11-0 with eleven finishes, eight by knockout and three submissions. The criticism against him is that he has yet to fight a top opponent, outside of Levar Johnson who has only recently been making some noise. His opponent Croation Stipe Miocic has a similar background and style. In his eight wins, he has knocked out six opponents and submitted one. The difference here is that Miocic’s striking background is with Boxing, particularly Golden Gloves, and wrestled in Division I and ranked nationally.

For Del Rosario to win he simply needs to land punches and avoid the takedowns, IF Miocic attempts them. For Miocic to win he needs to utilize his well-roundedness, use footwork to avoid the big bombs, and grapple in the clinch and on the ground to wear Del Rosario’s arms out and sap his power. NBG Pick: Stipe Miocic

Lavar Johnson vs. Stefan Struve
The final fight on the main card also has potential to win any of the three bonuses. Lavar Johnson is one of the heaviest handed fighters in the heavyweight division, has fifteen knockouts in his seventeen victories. Similar to Del Rosario (who he has lost against), the criticism against him is that he has yet to face top opposition. He has shown some awkwardness when on his back, but shown that he has a gritty determination to win at all costs. Stefan “Skyscraper” Struve, is a fan favorite for his “Let it all hang out, and go out on my shield.” approach to fighting is the tallest fighter in the UFC at 6′ 11″. He is 7-3 in the UFC and has won submission of the night on two occasions and a knockout of the night. Struve has faced better, but not necessarily top opposition.

For Lavar Johnson to win the fight he needs to avoid the ground at all costs, where he has a glaring weakness and Struve is strong at. He needs to throw overhand rights as often as he can. For Struve he needs to avoid the urge to stand and trade strikes as he seems to like to do. He needs to box and work the fight to the ground. He can win in the stand up as long as he is smart about avoiding the power and waits for Lavar to get tired, which he will. NBG Pick: Stefan Struve

Come back for the results, updates and animated gifs. What are your picks for the headline fight between Dos Santos and Frank Mir? The main card bouts? Who wins the bonuses?

About Joe Silvia

When Joe isn't writing, he's coaching people to punch each other in the face. He enjoys ancient cultures, dead and living languages, cooking, benching 999#s, and saving the elderly, babies and puppies from burning buildings. While he enjoys long walks on the beach, he will not be your alarm clock, because he's no ding-a-ling.

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