Dos Santos vs. Hunt: Cigano's Risky Decision Pays off with Knockout

Junior dos Santos leaves UFC 160 with a knockout win over Mark Hunt Saturday night in Las Vegas, and he did so in a very risky manner.

Coming into the fight, both were preparing for a battle on their feet.

Cigano is a strong boxer in the division due to his power and impressive quickness.  He has some strong uppercuts and likes to work the overhand shots as well.  For Hunt, he is an absolute bruiser on his feet due to his stocky frame and can make big hits with his feet due to his former kickboxing career.

The fight certainly wasn’t surprising in the sense that most of the fight was spent on their feet. 

In the first round, dos Santos was able to land a devastating shot on Hunt, knocking him to the ground.  The Super Samoan was able to get up, however, despite looking quite dazed and was able to make it through the round.

The second round featured some big shots from both sides, but Cigano was able to get Hunt to the ground and worked on him for a bit down there.

Then things got really interesting.

It felt like dos Santos had complete control of the fight for the first two rounds, and that he would simply try to finish out the fight and win by decision.  He was able to use his quickness to keep space between himself and Hunt, and it felt like he would finish out the fight by staying conservative.

Instead, Cigano went with an absolutely devastating wheel kick.  He landed the shot perfectly and dropped Hunt to the ground, and then it was all over.

This was a very risky move for dos Santos, who could have coasted to a win.  He was risking it all on the shot, and yet somehow it completely paid off for him.

The win brings dos Santos to 16-2 in his MMA career.  It was a great fight to turn things around after falling to Cain Velasquez and losing his heavyweight belt at UFC 155.

What’s next for him?  His next fight may very well be against Velasquez, but dos Santos is doing whatever it takes to regain the heavyweight belt that he believes he rightfully deserves.