UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez was the heavy favorite Saturday night against Antonio Silva and needed less than two minutes to prove it.
Velasquez, a two-time All-American wrestler at ASU, flattened Silva to earn his second career technical knockout over the Brazilian and his first successful UFC heavyweight title defense.
Silva started by stuffing two quick takedown attempts from Velasquez in the first minute. It was the only thing that went Silva’s way.
Velasquez cracked Silva with a short right hand that brought the 6-foot-4 Brazilian to his knees. With Silva badly hurt, Velasquez swarmed on him and finished Silva with follow-up punches on the ground 1:21 into the first round.
“We just wanted to keep moving, not stand in front of him but throw one or two punches and move or look for a takedown,” Velasquez said. “It was a good combination. I went in with a jab, caught him with a right hand and just finished up with ground and pound.”
As has become typical in the UFC, the night couldn’t have ended without a shred of controversy in the headliner.
Silva was unhappy with the stoppage.
“I do think the fight was stopped too early,” Silva said through a translator.
He added Velasquez landed several illegal blows to the back of Silva’s head but the champion said he never heard any warnings about illegal strikes from referee Mario Yamasaki.
“The ref came in, he told me everything connected to the ear, it was all good,” Velasquez said of the stoppage.
Saturday night’s main event was a rematch of the two fighters’ bout at UFC 146. In their first meeting, Velasquez defeated Silva via technical knockout 3:21 into the first round on May 26, 2012.
Velasquez’s second win over Silva represents his first successful title defense. After first winning the belt from Brock Lesnar at UFC 121 on Oct. 23, 2010, Velasquez lost the belt in his following fight and suffered his first career defeat against Junior Dos Santos at UFC on Fox 1 on Nov. 12, 2011.
Velasquez's first win over Silva earned him a rematch against Dos Santos at UFC 155 on Dec. 28, 2012, defeating Dos Santos via unanimous decision to regain the UFC heavyweight championship.
At the post-fight press conference, UFC President Dana White said Dos Santos and Velasquez will meet for a third time “before December.” Dos Santos fought that night before Velasquez in the co-main event, defeating Mark Hunt via knockout 4:18 into the third round.
Velasquez agreed to White's announcement and said the matchup “makes sense.”
Reach the reporter at ejsmith7@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @EricSmith_SP
