In 2011, the UFC started their historical collaboration with Fox with a heavyweight title fight between Cain Velasquez and Junior Dos Santos.
Cain Velasquez quickly became one of the greatest heavyweight hunters ever and after a series of six extremely impressive victories in a row he received a title shot against the then champion, Brock Lesnar.
Despite the nervousness of Velasquez of the enormous size of Lesnar, he then scored a huge upset victory on the UFC star and became the heavyweight champion.
Velasquez quickly became one of the biggest stars of the UFC and was then planned to make his first defending defense against Junior Dos Santos.
Photo by Donald Miralle/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Junior Dos Santos scored enormous upset victory to start the new partnership of UFC
This was not only a huge fight because of the skill of both heavyweights, but it was the first fight to start the new UFC broadcast partner with Fox.
The new deal of the promotion with Fox was extremely important because it allowed UFC to reach Fox's mainstream viewers, which resulted in enormous growth in sport.
The UFC at Fox Main event resulted in the most viewed live hour ever for MMA in the United States and an average of 5.7 million viewers. The reviews continued with 8.8 million viewers in the United States.
Early in the fight, Dos Santos showed a lot of confidence in his boxing, while Velasquez kept his attacks with leg kicks together.
And when only 64 seconds in the first round, the Brazilian landed a huge upper hand directly on the temple of the champion and zinc him on the floor. The challenger then hurried in to land a clear ground and pound, connected to various left and right hands, making Velasquez asleep.
The result came as a big surprise for UFC commentator, Joe Rogan, who constantly screamed 'incredibly' when Dos Santos ran around the cage that celebrated his performance.
“That's what we were talking about, the timing. The timing and the power of Junior Dos Santos,” said Rogan during the broadcast.
This started a historical trilogy between DOS Santos and Velasquez
After handing over Velasquez's very first loss ever, Dos Santos defended his title against Frank Mir with a different dominant performance.
And when UFC 155, DOS Santos and the Mexican were booked for a Rematch and Velasquez went exactly over the Brazilian and scored a unanimous decision.
DOS Santos then worked back to the title conflicts with a spectacular victory over Mark Hunt and earned a trilogy fight against Velasquez on UFC 166.
Nevertheless, the third fight played in the same way as their second and Velasquez scored a third round knockout, which put a stamp on their historic rivalry.
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