On the heels of two highly successfull Pay-Per-View events in UFC 115 and 116, UFC delivered another stacked card for 117. A middleweight title bout between the champion Anderson Silva and challenger Chael Sonnen was backed up by two potential contender matchups: Junior dos Santos taking on Roy Nelson for a crack at the heavyweight title, and a rematch between top welterweights Jon Fitch and Thiago Alves.

Junior dos Santos vs. Roy Nelson (HW)

Round 1: Nelson takes the center of the Octagon, holding his hands high.  Nelson’s advances while covering up; Dos Santos lands a body shot and Nelson shoots in for a takedown.  Dos Santos sprawls and they clinch agains the cage.  Dos Santos breaks up the clinch, landing a knee as they separate.  Dos Santos rocks Nelson with an uppercut.  Nelson goes down to his knees and looks for a single-leg takedown.  Junior backs off then blasts Nelson with another uppercut.  Nelson falls down but survives and keeps trying for takedowns.  Dos Santos patiently landing punches.  Nelson recovers and starts throwing back, landing several hooks and overhand rights towards the end of the round.  Round 10-9 dos Santos

Round 2: Dos Santos leads with a jumping knee to the body.  Nelson responds with an overhand punch that lands, then rushes in for a takedown but dos Santos blocks it.  Dos Santos keeps firing off shots; Nelson covering up and swinging back.  Nelson lands several punches that open up a cut underneath Junior’s eye.  Both fighters slowing down.  Dos Santos tries a half-hearted takedown attempt of his own but does not succeed.  Nelson keeps alternating strikes with double-leg and single-leg shots but Junior’s takedown defence is flawless.  Much closer than first round but dos Santos still outstriking Nelson by a large margin.  Round 10-9 dos Santos

Round 3: The fighters go right back to trading, though neither has much snap to their punches in the final round. Nelson’s defense blocks most of Junior’s punches but an occasional uppercut and body shots come through.  Dos Santos lands a slapping front kick to the head.  Nelson finds his target with a few big punches but Santos appears unfazed.  Dos Santos shoots for a takedown and scores; Nelson right back up.  Nelson is hanging in there, he looks very tired but is still looking for a knockout punch.  The time runs out and the fighters embrace.  Good fight and a clear-cut victory for dos Santos.  Round 10-9 dos Santos

Junior dos Santos wins a unanimous decision with the scores of 30-27, 30-27, 30-26

Aftermath: Both fighters looked good in an enterntaining fight.  Dos Santos showed great takedown defense and solid as usual striking, improving his UFC record to 6-0 and earning a title shot in process.  He will now face the winner of the upcoming title bout between Brock Lesnar and Cain Velasquez.

Roy Nelson’s striking and takedowns both fell short of the mark, but he demonstrated that his chin – and his heart – match the size of his belly.  He may never be in the title picture but at the very least will make a great gatekeeper. His next fight should be against Mike Russow, or a rematch with his former IFL rival Ben Rothwell.

Ranking Impact: Junior dos Santos remains #5 HW.  Roy Nelson remains #26 HW.

Fight Grade: 4/5

Keep Reading