Dos Santos vs. Mir Results: Junior Still Has Much to Prove After Meaningless Win

UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos still has plenty to prove after knocking out Frank Mir in the second round of the main event at UFC 146 on Saturday night.

Mir has seen his best days pass in mixed martial arts and at age 33 is hardly a worthy adversary for dos Santos inside the cage. Dos Santos' style immediately won out over Mir's, as many knew and predicted it would. 

In the end we learned nothing new about Junior dos Santos other than that he will feast on anyone content to stand up with him.

On the other hand there are some who still believe that Cain Velasquez is the best heavyweight in today's game. If given a second shot at dos Santos, Velasquez may even win his belt back.

In order to learn just how lethal dos Santos truly is, we need to see him defend his title against a determined Cain Velasquez. 

The lightning fast nature in which dos Santos overwhelmed Velasquez last November surrounded the title bout with a cloud of doubt. One could argue that it takes a great deal of luck to dethrone the king in 64 seconds. 

Had dos Santos been paired with a more challenging matchup to kick off his title defense though, we would have learned just how frighteningly talented the Brazilian really is. 

The outcome was never in doubt on Saturday night. Mir's streak of victories heading into the night were far from impressive and his opponent was and is on a different level.

Velasquez is also on that same level. ESPN's Brett Okamoto discussed that point in an early Sunday morning piece about the positioning of power in the UFC's heavyweight division: 

"

After Saturday, the heavyweight division is Junior, Cain and everyone else...the two appear to be headed toward a rematch of their Nov. 12 clash when Dos Santos finished Velasquez in the first 64 seconds of the fight with a crushing right hand...dos Santos said he’s assuming that’s the direction the UFC will head.

"

I knew coming into UFC 146 that we wouldn't know how good dos Santos was until we saw him defend his title against Velasquez. There is a great deal of pressure in title defense, and the role reversal would no doubt influence the outcome a second time around. 

For dos Santos to prove himself after taking the belt and now having defended it successfully, he needs to survive Cain Velasquez. If he beats Velasquez as champion then he is a frightening heavyweight champion, and I'll be the first to say so.

Follow Patrick Clarke on Twitter for more on the UFC.