SCRAPP! FIGHT MAGAZINE
March - 2015
33
5. Joe Lauzon def. Jens Pulver – UFC 63
4. Junior dos Santos def. Fabricio Werdum – UFC 90
3. Chris Weidman def. Anderson Silva I – UFC 162
For years Jens Pulver as the guy at 155-pounds.
With heavy hands and a stellar wresting attack,
“Lil’ Evil” picked up wins over the who’s who of
the lightweight division. After some time away
from the bright lights of the UFC, Pulver was
making his grand return, in what was supposed
to be his first step toward reclaiming his title.
His opponent that night, Joe Lauzon, a neardy
looking, Massachusetts native was just an af-
terthought. While he did have the skills when
it came to the submission aspect of the game,
nobody thought he could match Pulver’s feroc-
ity on the ground, let alone on the feet. But
just over 40 seconds into their matchup Lauzon
planted a picture perfect hook to the chin of
the UFC veteran, sending him crashing to the
canvas. At first it appeared as if Pulver had been
the victim of a lucky punch. But as years rolled
on and Lauzon picked up win after win and post
fight bonus after post fight bonus, the world
realized it was more than a lucky punch. It was
an outcome everyone should have seen coming.
After walking away with back-to-back TKO vic-
tories, it appeared Fabricio Werdum would be
the next logical choice for the next number one
contender in the UFC’s heavyweight division. As
a multiple time jiu-jitsu champion, no one could
match Werdum’s skill set on the ground. This
made his next opponent all the more puzzling
as he would be matched up with promotional
newcomer Junior dos Santos. At the time dos
Santos, a stand up specialist, was only seven
fights into his MMA career and had recently
suffered first round submission loss. It was ap-
peared as essentially being throw to the lions
agains the veteran Werdum. But 80 seconds
into their bout, dos Santo planted with a mas-
sive uppercut between the eyes of Werdum,
turning his lights off and sending him crumpling
the canvas. A star had born. This was just a taste
of what would come later as Dos Santos would
go on to rattle off six more victories before earn-
ing the UFC’s heavyweight championship with a
first round knockout over Cain Velasquez. Moral
of the story: Anything is possible once that cage
closes.
This may come as a surprise to many, but I do
not consider Chris Weidman’s knockout victory
over Anderson Silva in the main event of UFC
162 an upset in any sense of the word. Initially,
as their battle approached, I predicted a fairly
effortless victory for Silva to pad his legendary
resume with yet another highlight-reel victo-
ry. But Weidman did not care, nor should he,
about the fans’ or the media’s opinion was on
his upcoming title opportunity. All he knew was
that his fellow fighters, the most important fans
in the fight business, had his back. So look-
ing back at that historic July night, I cannot call
Weidman’s second-round knockout victory an
upset because almost everyone who actually
knew what they were talking about were all
saying the same thing: Weidman was going to
win. It doesn’t hurt that he would go to defeat
Silva in their immediate rematch and follow that
up with a hard-fought decision win over former
light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida.
Youngs’ List
