UFC heavyweight contender Junior Dos Santos is officially next in line for a shot at the UFC heavyweight championship. Dos Santos earned the shot with his unanimous decision victory over Ultimate Fighter 10 winner Roy “Big Country” Nelson at UFC 117 last night. UFC president Dana White announced during the UFC 117 build-up that the Dos Santos-Nelson winner would be next in line for the UFC title.
The UFC heavyweight title will be on the line for one more fight already on the books, which is Brock Lesnar defending against dangerous challenger Cain Velasquez on October 23 at UFC 121 in Anaheim, California. The winner that night will face Dos Santos in what will likely be the first heavyweight title fight in 2011.
Also coming out victorious at UFC 117 was defending middleweight champion Anderson Silva, who defeated Chael Sonnen in what many in the MMA community are calling the most dramatic come-from-behind victory in MMA history. Silva was thouroughly dominated for four-and-a-half rounds out of five total rounds. Some of the official judges scorecards had Silva’s opponent, the best pro wrestling promo today (sorry, it’s true) Chael Sonnen, winning a few rounds by way of 10-8 scores. Sonnen floored Silva multiple times with punches, was taking him down at will, and would even sweep to top position the few times Silva would be on top on the ground. In the fifth and final round, with only a few minutes remaining before the pound-for-pound king of the sport was dethroned, Silva managed to slap a triangle choke on Sonnen, forcing the tapout. What a fight.
Jon Fitch set himself up for the next welterweight title shot at the winner of champion Georges St. Pierre and challenger Josh Koscheck’s title bout in December, following their upcoming stint as opposing coaches on the new season of The Ultimate Fighter on Spike TV. Fitch earned the honors by taking out top contender Thiago Alves.
Also winning in main-card action at UFC 117 last night were Clay Guida, who defeated Rafael Dos Anjos (and broke his jaw) and Matt Hughes, who defeated Ricardo Almeida.
