Velasquez-Silva 2, Dos Santos-Overeem Made Official For UFC 160

[No More Sorrow]

For the second straight Memorial Day weekend, the UFC is going to get heavy with its pay-per-view.

The UFC 160 main event will be a heavyweight title fight between champion Cain Velasquez (11-1 MMA, 9-1 UFC) and Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva (18-4 MMA, 2-1 UFC), a rematch from this past Memorial Day weekend. The co-main event features former champ Junior Dos Santos (15-2 MMA, 9-1 UFC) against Alistair Overeem (36-12 MMA, 1-1 UFC).


UFC President Dana White first revealed the planned matchups to fans while in Ireland prior to heading to London for UFC on FUEL TV 7. Ariel Helwani of FUEL TV's "UFC Tonight" said on Tuesday's show that White confirmed the bouts.


UFC 160 takes place May 25 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The main card will air on pay-per-view following prelims on FX and Facebook. The UFC's 2012 Memorial Day weekend show, UFC 146 in Las Vegas, featured an all-heavyweight main card.


Velasquez will defend his heavyweight title for the first time since regaining it in December against Dos Santos at UFC 155. In that bout, Velasquez dominated Dos Santos for five rounds in a rematch from their UFC on FOX 1 meeting, which saw Dos Santos win with a 64-second knockout. The fight with Silva will be his second – he dominated "Bigfoot" at UFC 146 to get a shot at regaining his title against Dos Santos, who was the only man to beat him.


Silva will be looked at by some as perhaps a surprise challenger for Velasquez given that he was beaten rather easily by him at UFC 146. But Silva rebounded from that loss to beat Travis Browne this past October at UFC on FX 5. And he followed that up at UFC 156 earlier this month with a stunning upset of Overeem. In that fight, Overeem pretty much had his way with Silva for the first 10 minutes of the fight. But quickly in the third round, Silva came out slugging. He pushed Overeem to the fence and began landing at will until Overeem was on the canvas. After the fight, White said even though Velasquez had beaten Silva soundly in their first meeting, the way he went through Overeem put him in consideration for a shot at the title. Now he'll get it.


Dos Santos, of course, will look to rebound from his loss to Velasquez at UFC 155 in December. That was his first loss in the UFC and came in his second defense of the heavyweight title after a win over Frank Mir at UFC 146. He'll get a crack at Overeem, a man he was itching to fight while he was champion. He acknowledged Velasquez had earned his shot in December, but didn't deny he was not a fan of Overeem and wanted to fight him.


Overeem will try to climb back from his first loss since September 2007. The elite kickboxer was supposed to have a shot at Dos Santos' heavyweight title at UFC 146, but failed a pre-fight drug test with elevated testosterone-to-epitestosterone levels. The Nevada State Athletic Commission would not consider licensing him for a period of nine months, which amounted, effectively, to a non-suspension suspension for the Dutch fighter. His return earlier this month at UFC 156 was supposed to be a top contender's fight for him, with a win securing him a shot at Velasquez. But a loss set the former Strikeforce champion back in the pack.

This was rumored earlier in the week and made official on UFC Tonight. Think this all leads to Velasquez-Dos Santos III to be honest. See Cain handling Silva easily again and also see JDS Knocking out Overeem.

 

[Slim]

I saw this on ESPN and I was like... oh man this looks rather intriguing.

Cain vs. Bigfoot for a second time. I just don't think that Cain is gonna dominate like he did the first time but I do see a win again for him. I just can't see Bigfoot having what it takes to beat Cain. Cain won't underestimate Bigfoot like Overeem did. He'll take it to him and look to finish the fight.

Now this co main event is the fight that we've been waiting to see. And considering the loss that Overeem took he'll more than likely take this fight very seriously. Dos Santos looking to bounce back from his loss... this is gonna be a good fight. Yeah I see JDS winning this one but this is gonna be a very nice fight that finally happens. Wonder what the rest of the card is gonna look like.

 

[The Cork]

They better put some midgets on the card to go the distance and fill out the time because Cain & JDS won't take long.

Reem is shot as a contender after this fight.

 

[Nerotheory]

Cain i think wins pretty much like last time, leaving Silva a mess. Junior i see beating Overeem like Silva did just more decisive and brutal.

 

[Troy]

Not that interested in Cain vs. Bigfoot, just an easy defence for Cain. He dominated Bigfoot first time and he isn't one to go easy on an opponent like Overeem. Overeem isn't going to take Bigfoot easy so he should go hard early and not play with JDS, not that he is going to be able to manhandle JDS like he did to Bigfoot early in their fight. Pretty confident that we will see Cain vs. JDS again after this PPV.