In his octagon debut, the former Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion made quick work of Lesnar, beating him by TKO at 2:26 of the first round following a body kick.

Overeem was able to stuff the few takedown attempts from Lesnar and land some powerful knees to the body that softened Lesnar up for the finish. Overeem will now face Junior dos Santos for the UFC heavyweight title in the near future.

Following the loss, his second in as many fights, Lesnar retired from competition. With a pair of bad knockout losses, his aura has faded. With a title shot not likely to come any time soon, it made sense for Lesnar to call it quits. It hurts the UFC as he was their top draw, but I am sure they can market Overeem.

In the co-main event, Nate Diaz had an impressive decision win over Donald Cerrone. Diaz used his boxing to pick apart Cerrone. The Cowboy took a number of unanswered punches throughout the 15 minutes.

In a big upset, Johny Hendricks knocked out Jon Fitch in just 12 seconds. Fitch, who had just one loss in the octagon to Georges St. Pierre, had been off for nearly a year due to shoulder surgery.

Fitch threw a couple of punches in the opening seconds but then walked in to a big left from Hendricks that put him out cold for a moment.

The loss for Fitch is devastating, as he was close to earning a title shot, and now will fall well back into the contender list. Due to a lack of exciting fights, Fitch can’t expect to headline an event any time too soon.

For complete results from UFC 141, check out the jump.

UFC 141 Results

MGM Grand Garden Arena – Las Vegas

Friday, Dec. 30, 2011

265 lbs.: Alistair Overeem defeats Brock Lesnar via TKO (Strikes) Round 1

170 lbs.: Johny Hendricks defeats Jon Fitch via KO (Strikes) Round 1

155 lbs.: Nate Diaz defeats Donald Cerrone via Unanimous Decision

145 lbs.: Jim Hettes defeats Nam Phan via Unanimous Decision

205 lbs.: Alexander Gustafsson defeats Vladimir Matyushenko via TKO (Strikes) Round 1

145 lbs.: Ross Pearson defeats Junior Assuncao via Unanimous Decision

155 lbs.: Danny Castillo defeats Anthony Njokuani via Split Decision

170 lbs.: Dong Hyun Kim def Sean Pierson via unanimous decision

155 lbs.: Jacob Volkmann def. Efrain Escudero via unanimous decision

145 lbs.: Diego Nunes def. Manny Gamburyan via unanimous decision

Junior dos Santos won the UFC Heavyweight Championship in a little over a minute as he knocked out the champion, Cain Velasquez from the Honda Center in Anaheim.

Dos Santos came into the fight as the betting underdog, but a devastating right hand early in the first round caught the champion in the ear and sent him crashing.

With Velasquez’ equilibrium admittedly thrown off, dos Santos was able to finish the fight with a series of ground-and-pound strikes that left Velasquez face down in the octagon.

The Brazilian exploded with joy as he becomes the third Brazilian to hold a UFC title, joining middleweight champ Anderson Silva and featherweight kingpin Jose Aldo.

In the night’s co-main event, Ben Henderson earned a lightweight title shot against Frankie Edgar with his unanimous decision win over Clay Guida.

The contest was very competitive and neither man seemed to have an obvious superiority over the other, but Henderson was able to gain more dominant positions than Guida and he also exhibited more control during the fight.

For complete UFC on FOX 1 results, check out the jump.

UFC on FOX 1 Results

Honda Center – Anaheim, California

Saturday, Nov. 12, 2012

Junior dos Santos defeats Cain Velasquez via TKO (Strikes) Round 1

Ben Henderson def. Clay Guida via unanimous decision

Dustin Poirier def. Pablo Garza via submission (D’Aarce choke) at 1:32 of Round 2

Ricardo Lamas def. Cub Swanson via submission (arm triangle choke) at 2:16 of Round 2

DaMarques Johnson def. Clay Harvison via TKO at 1:34 of round 1

Darren Uyenoyama def. Norifumi Yamamoto via unanimous decision

Robert Peralta def. Mackens Semerzier via TKO at 1:54 of round 3

Alex Caceres def. Cole Escovedo via unanimous decision

Mike Pierce def. Paul Bradley via split decision

Aaron Rosa def. Matt Lucas via majority decision

Coming into the fight, the oddsmakers like the champion Velasquez to retain, as he has a money line of -190 to win on Saturday night. Dos Santos comes in with odds of +155. These two will clash from the Honda Center in Anaheim at 9 p.m. ET live on FOX.

Here is a look at both fighters and my pick for the winner.

Cain Velasquez (9-0) – The former wrestler from Arizona State is unbeaten in his short MMA career and he holds wins over top fighters like Cheick Kongo, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, and Brock Lesnar. Velasquez started as a wrestler, but has quickly developed his boxing and turned into one of the top knockout artists in the division. The questions for the champion coming in are his conditioning and health, as he is coming off rotator cuff surgery that has sidelined him for over a year. His longest fight in the UFC is 15 minutes and he struggled to make it to the end there, so if this fight goes deep, he could be in rough shape.

Junior dos Santos (13-1) – The Brazilian is 7-0 in the UFC and holds wins over the likes of Fabricio Werdum, Mirko CroCop, Roy Nelson, and Shane Carwin. Junior is a powerful striker that likes to throw heavy punches. His uppercut has been his signature strike to finish opponents, but he also works in devastating body shots. A black belt in jiu-jitsu as well, dos Santos hasn’t had to show those skills because he has been able to dominate fights standing. The test for him in this fight will be whether or not he is able to stuff the takedowns of Velasquez, as he has not faced a tough wrestler in the octagon. Like Velasquez, dos Santos hasn’t been pushed past 15 minutes yet, so fatigue could be an issue if this bout reaches the championship rounds.

Who Will Win? – This fight could go 25 minutes and it could go 25 seconds. Both fighters have a lot of explosiveness to them but both also have some big questions coming in. Ultimately, I feel Velasquez’ striking is closer to matching dos Santos’ as opposed to dos Santos’ wrestling being anywhere near Velasquez’. I think both fighters will land some early strikes, but Velasquez will be the one to get the fight to the ground and control Junior from there. I am actually going to be part of the minority that sees this fight going the distance due to Velasquez going with the wrestling.

A relapse of diverticulitis has forced former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar to pull out of his scheduled UFC 131 fight with Junior dos Santos.

UFC President Dana White confirmed the news today.

Lesnar was scheduled to face fellow Ultimate Fighter 13 coach Dos Santos in the main event of UFC 131 in Vancouver. The winner would receive a title shot. Shane Carwin will face dos Santos instead.

Lesnar indicated on the conference call that his career isn’t over and he is not retiring, but that he has to figure out a way to beat the illness so that he can train to the best of his capabilities. “I’ve just got to find the right solution to fix this problem,” Lesnar said.

More on this story as it develops.

Read more MMA headlines.

“UFC 131: Lesnar vs. Dos Santos” is currently scheduled to take place on June 11 at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, but UFC officials have not made the location official yet.

The event is headlined by a heavyweight No. 1 contender’s bout between “The Ultimate Fighter 13” coaches Brock Lesnar and Junior Dos Santos.

The venue , formerly known as GM Place, has hosted a UFC before. “UFC 115: Liddell vs. Franklin” was held there on June 12, 2010. British Columbia passed a bill to sanction mixed martial arts on December 17, 2009.
Official bouts confirmed for UFC 131 include:

MAIN CARD
Junior Dos Santos vs. Brock Lesnar
Demian Maia vs. Mark Munoz
Shane Carwin vs. Jon Olav Einemo
Kenny Florian vs. Diego Nunes
Dustin Poirier vs. Rani Yahya

Read the rest of the card.

Well, that has now opened the door for my own “brother” site, strictly devoted to MMA, called MMA Blitz.

At MMA Blitz you will find daily updates on any and all things MMA. From breaking news to opinions to interviews, we will have it all. If you have been a fan of my work here, you will surely enjoy MMA Blitz.

Stop by now to read my latest pound-for-pound rankings, my thoughts on overtime in MMA, and the impact Brock Lesnar will have on the TUF series.

If you like what you see you can find us on twitter or on facebook for regular updates.

Hope to hear from you all in our comments section, where your feedback is always welcome.

Lesnar faces Dos Santos in a heavyweight No. 1 contender’s bout at UFC 131 on June 11 in Vancouver with the winner getting a title shot at Velasquez.

Lesnar lost the title to Velasquez at UFC 121 in October of 2010, and Dos Santos stands in his way of an opportunity of regaining the belt.

“I’m angry that I lost last fall, but being angry about it isn’t the solution, but doing something about it, and that’s what I intend to do to get another title shot,” Lesnar said on Monday.

Lesnar made no excuses for the loss to Velasquez, but believes a rematch will be a lot different than their first fight.

“I was healthy physically, but mentally probably not so. I don’t think it really registers to the general public on my year last year from being sick and losing 42 pounds and just to get my ass to the gym to recover and put that weight back on and then having a title fight, and on top of that while I’m training for a title fight a new baby boy, and then fighting Shane Carwin. Then I was expecting some time off because I really needed it mentally more than anything and physically, and then I booked a fight with Cain (Velasquez),” said Lesnar.

Read the full article.