UFC 131 Main Fight Card Breakdowns: Shane Carwin Vs. Junior Dos Santos, Kenny Florian Vs. Diego Nunes, And More

As befits a #1 contender’s bout, Carwin vs dos Santos is too close to call. Both men have crushing knock out power and prefer to stand on their feet and use their fists to batter opponents into unconsciousness. Carwin has the most raw power but dos Santos is the better boxing technician.

Dos Santos trains with the legendary Nogueira brothers so he should at least have a strong understanding of jiu jitsu, but we’ve never seen him forced to fight off his back and as a KO artist he hasn’t shown any interest in going for take downs himself.

Unless Florian is sapped by the big weight cut or has suddenly begun to show his age, look for him to pick up a win tomorrow.

Munoz is a former NCAA division 1 national champion wrestler who has successfully combined his powerful double leg take downs with an awesomely powerful right hand to become one of the most dangerous ground and pound specialists in MMA today. Munoz has also steadily improved his straight boxing and scored a brutal KO on the feet against fellow wrestler Dollaway.

This fight is an extremely interesting match. Maia may be the more technically polished striker on the feet, but Munoz has much more punching power and a better chin. That means he’ll likely be looking to sprawl and brawl to keep things standing and capitalize on his standing advantage.

The 26 year old Herman, 20-2, was once the hottest heavyweight prospect in the sport. He ran up a 15-0 record and fought on Showtime for the now defunct EliteXC promotion. Then he lost a pick up fight in Japan and got into contractual difficulties with Bellator who kept him in limbo for around 18 months.

He also picked up a reputation as an incredibly talented but incredibly undisciplined fighter who barely bothered to train and tried out moves for the first time in the cage. Now that he’s training with Team Quest he’s hopefully improved his conditioning, but fans will be very sad if “Pee Wee” no longer throws wild flying kicks five times a round. He’s got a good collegiate wrestling base to build on and incredible athleticism for a big man.

It’s well documented Carwin has been preparing for media for this UFC 131 bout by working with professional wrestling promoter Paul Heyman. The early report card on the effort is Carwin clearly is acting and can’t quite pull it off, but that’s still leagues of improvement above what used to be his indefatigable ability to remain uninspiring through promotional opportunities.

The takeaway here is that for visible fighters in important bouts, learning how to do media is an important skill. From the vantage points of modern mixed martial arts fighters, the additional task of mastering fight promotion often seems perfunctory at best, counterproductive at best given that’s time which could be spent preparing for battle. That’s unfortunately myopia that ultimately affects income, popularity and other essentials for long, healthy careers.

“The Cowboy” is known for his aggressive style that combines vicious Muay Thai striking with a solid submission game. Wrestling had historically been his weakest range as a fighter but in his rematch with Jamie Varner at WEC 51, he showed he’d made considerable strides in that area.

Rocha is 6-1 in his MMA career and makes his UFC debut Saturday. A black belt under the esteemed Pablo Papovich, Rocha has a distinguished track record in international jiu jitsu competition. Despite having a couple of TKO wins on his MMA resume and some decent boxing, he’s still a fairly limited fighter who will likely be out of his depth striking with Cerrone. It’s also doubtful that he’s got the wrestling to put Cerrone on his back and keep him there.

Pay Per View Card

Preliminary Card (Spike TV)