When Cain Velasquez lost his first heavyweight title defense against Junior dos Santos at the inaugural UFC on FOX in Nov. 2011, immediately following the vicious 64-second knockout, Velasquez was handing the defeat much different than other fighters that I had come across prior.
It wasn’t that he wasn’t upset -- he was. It wasn’t that he didn’t realize the magnitude of losing his first title defense -- he did. The real thing that stood out, was how visibly angry the Mexican-American had been.
As Velasquez sat at that podium just over a year ago, he made no excuses, he made no apologies. All Cain Velasquez promised is that he would come back, work harder than ever, and simply put, “I’ll get my belt back.”
On Saturday night in Las Vegas, Nev., at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, Velasquez finally had his chance at redemption, as he once again stood in front of Junior dos Santos and the Heavyweight Championship.
[READ: UFC 155: Velasquez and Dos Santos battle for the past, present and future]
As the 25-minute marathon concluded and the Brazilian and Mexican contingent in the MGM had strained all vocal chords, Velasquez stood victorious over his battered opponent and Dos Santos immediately was put in an ambulance with a one-way trip to the hospital (note: he was fine, sans major bumps and bruises).
If you could have seen Velasquez’s face back in 2011 after his only career defeat, you’d be hard pressed to not think this is exactly how he pictured his revenge playing out.
[READ: The Neglected Narrative: UFC 155 edition]
UFC 155 didn’t just entertain fans with the massive rematch that was Dos Santos/Velasquez 2. Also on the year-end card was an epic battle of lightweight’s that saw Joe Lauzon fall to Jim Miller in a fight that was instantly being brought up for “fight of the year” contender. There was also a masked luchador on card (Erik Perez) a surging middleweight (Costa Philippou) and a victor from the far east (Yushin Okami).
Of course Examiner.com was on hand to capture all of the post-fight festivities at the UFC 155 press conference. So allow us to present you with this photo gallery for your viewing enjoyment.
Happy New Year!
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