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

UFC 125 takes place on Saturday from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nev. The event features five very intriguing and exciting fights, headlined by a battle for the UFC Lightweight Championship. Here are my thoughts on who will win on the main card bouts.

UFC Lightweight Championship – Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard: I look for the champion to retain his belt and avenge a prior loss to Maynard in 2008. Since that time I feel like Edgar has improved greatly as a fighter while Maynard is simply a slightly better version of himself. Maynard will get some takedowns on the champ, but I expect Edgar to bounce back up and use his boxing to tire the challenger before scoring some takedowns in the later rounds to earn a decision victory.

UFC Middleweight Bout – Chris Leben vs. Brian Stann: While this fight doesn’t deserve co-main event status, it still should be exciting. Leben is riding a wave of momentum that will not be stopped on Saturday as his punching power should carry him to a third round TKO of Stann, who will put up a game effort.

UFC Light Heavyweight Bout – Brandon Vera vs. Thiago Silva: This may be Vera’s final UFC fight as I expect Silva to pressure him and not let him set up his kicks. Silva will do a good job of closing the distance and overwhelming Vera with his power and grappling ability. I like Silva to win by unanimous decision.

UFC Welterweight Bout – Nate Diaz vs. Dong Hyun Kim: Kim is a very under-rated fighter as he is kind of like the Yushin Okami of this weight class as is very strong and bigger than anyone else in the weight class. I like Kim to use that size to get Diaz to the ground and keep him from using his boxing. It probably won’t be the most exciting fight, but it will be another decision win for Kim.

UFC Lightweight Bout – Takanori Gomi vs. Clay Guida: I like Guida and the energy he brings to a fight, but his short arms tend to put him in bad spots against strikers. I think Guida will get careless early in the fight and get caught with a big punch by Guida while will lead to a TKO finish in the opening round.

Matt Brown of HeavyMMA.com compiled some great post-fight quotes from fighters of UFC 117.

Dennis Hallman

“The difference for me today was my cardio. My cardio was so much better tonight than it has been. Yeah he hit me with some good shots but I was just waiting for him to get close so I can take him down.
I want to thank Team Quest because they definitely made a difference for me this fight. The significance of the win proves that I am back and a factor in the welterweight division.
Ben Saunders is a really tough kid and he has a bright future ahead of him.”

Clay Guida

“I want to thank Rafael Dos Anjos and his camp for taking this fight. I’m in here to win. I’m not in here to hurt my opponents so I apologize for that Raffy, you’re a tough son of a gun. I want to thank my trainers and Greg Jackson for getting me ready for this fight.”

(On switching to Greg Jackson’s camp)

“[It made] a world of difference. It took me a while to realize I’m my biggest distraction. Coach is going to make me a champion. Champions aren’t born, they’re made.”

Read the rest of the quotes here.

E. Spencer Kyte of HeavyMMA.com details the 10 things that we learned from UFC 117.

It Isn’t Over ‘til It’s Over
For four-plus rounds, Chael Sonnen dominated UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva. Manhandling him at every turn, Sonnen followed through on every pre-fight promise for the first twenty minutes of the fight.
As everyone was settling in to watch the fifth round play out just like the four before it, it happened; Sonnen gave Silva a small opening and the champion took advantage, hooking on a triangle, forcing Sonnen to tap and miss out on the middleweight championship that he looked ready to claim.

Silva was behind on every card, with scores of 40-34, 40-35, and 40-36 heading into the final frame, and finding a finish when he absolutely needed to only serves as further proof that absolutely anything can and does happen in this sport and that it really isn’t over ‘til it’s over.

Read the entire article here.

Brett C. Jones of HeavyMMA.com highlights the winner options for UFC 117.

Anderson Silva

Option 1: Chael Sonnen

It’s rare that a fighter not only loses but is stopped and has a valid claim for a rematch, but indeed Sonnen proved that he belongs in the cage with Silva for another 25 minutes. The fight could absolutely end much quicker the second time around, and while that seems likely to long time witnesses of Silva’s career, it seems even more likely at this moment that Sonnen could again put Silva on his back and batter Silva to earn a victory. He’ll have to learn to defend the armbar from the triangle position, and there’s no indication that he will do so, but you simply cannot discount Sonnen’s first 22 or so minutes of success against Silva.
It’s been suggested by several people, including Sonnen, that the two could be featured as coached on TUF 13 in a USA v. Brazil edition, and that makes perfect sense not only to hype up the rematch as much as possible but also to give the division some time to breath. Sadly, this may mean that Yushin Okami, the last man to earn a victory over Silva, may once again find himself unable to make his way into a title match, at least for another year.

Read the rest of the article here.

UFC 117: Silva vs. Sonnen takes place Saturday night from the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California and this card is stacked from top-to-bottom. The headliner is a contest for the UFC Middleweight Championship between Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen. Here are my picks for this event.

UFC Middleweight Championship Bout – Anderson Silva (26-4) vs. Chael Sonnen (26-10-1): Sonnen gets the award for most smack talk prior to a fight, but he better make sure he backs it up, or else he is going to look like a complete jackass. Sonnen does have a good style to combat Silva, as he is an aggressive wrestler that knows he needs to get the fight to the ground. At the same time, Sonnen has struggled in defending submissions in the past, losing to lesser opponents like Demian Maia and Jeremy Horn via submission. Silva may get taken to the ground a few times in this fight, but his accurate strikes and jiu-jitsu ability on the ground tell me that sooner or later, he will end this fight. I like Silva to win by submission in the second round.

UFC Welterweight Bout – Thiago Alves (22-5) vs. Jon Fitch (25-3): This is a rematch of a bout from years ago in which Fitch won by TKO. Since then, both have greatly improved, but Alves has seen more progress. Fitch has failed to win by submission or TKO in the last three years, but he still has just once UFC loss in his career and that has to be respected. With Alves struggling to cut weight and having a year off from competition, I like Fitch to score the takedowns and earn the decision victory.

UFC Lightweight Bout – Clay Guida (26-8) vs. Rafael Dos Anjos (14-4): Dos Anjos is on the rise, but he faces his toughest challenge to date in Guida. Guida is a relentless fighter that always is pushing the action and looking to mix it up. In this fight, Guida should be able to avoid the big strikes of Dos Anjos and score takedowns to earn a decision victory as he controls the fight.

UFC Welterweight Bout – Matt Hughes (45-7) vs. Ricardo Almeida (12-3): This is an intriguing fight as Hughes has only lost to Georges St. Pierre and Thiago Alves in recent years, yet he is a decided underdog against the largely unproven Almeida. Almeida has superior submission skills and speed, but both men are weak strikers and Hughes has a clear wrestling edge. I think if Hughes is able to be smart and cautions and avoid the submission attempts of Almeida while on his back, Hughes should be able to control this fight on top and earn another win to his storied career.

UFC Heavyweight Bout – Roy Nelson (16-4) vs. Junior Dos Santos (11-1): This fight has a lot of size and power as both men have heavy hands. Nelson doesn’t look like a well-conditioned or skilled fighter, but he has a great gas tank and is a black belt in jiu-jitsu. Dos Santos is also solid on the ground, but he has never had to show it as he has picked apart opponents on his feet. In this fight, look for Dos Santos to beat Nelson to the punch and score the first big blow, which will lead to a TKO win in round one. Dos Santos is a little quicker and a little crisper on his feet.

Nate Lawson of HeavyMMA.com writes that the relentless style of MMA fighter Clay Guida has brought excitement to the Octagon.

What do you think of when you hear the name Clay Guida?

To mixed martial arts fans, the lightweight’s name has become synonymous with adjectives such as exciting, relentless, and perhaps even reckless. His style has won him a handful of fights and lost him a few as well. It’s a style that leads to him taking plenty of damage while also dishing it out.

But the biggest benefit Guida’s fighting style brings him is the fan support that comes along with being one of the promotion’s top entertainers.

Pleasing the fans seems like a very important aspect of being a fighter. Is anyone here waiting anxiously for a UFC Unleashed featuring Ben Rothwell vs. Gilbert Yvel, Anderson Silva vs. Demian Maia, or Kalib Starnes vs. Nate Quarry? Fans don’t want to see someone lay on top of his opponent, move to mount several times, and still fail to get the finish. And no one wants to see a fighter literally run away from his opponent, especially when that fighter is the UFC middleweight champion and arguably the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.

Read the rest of the article here.