UFC 131 Fight Card: Power Ranking Junior Dos Santos' UFC Victories

With scary knockout power and incredible speed in his hands, Junior Dos Santos has shown that he is one of the top heavyweights in the world during his time spent inside the UFC.

No one in the division has finished as many high-caliber opponents than Dos Santos the last few years, as he’s taken out 5 of his 6 UFC opponents, and most of them didn’t even get out of the first round.

After a promised title fight with Cain Velasquez fell through, Dos Santos is in his second straight No. 1 contender’s bout, but now he has some marketability to go with his talent after appearing on the latest season of The Ultimate Fighter.

Dos Santos will take on Shane Carwin in the main event of UFC 131 this weekend.

6. Gilbert Yvel

Event: UFC 108

This fight was originally set to be against Gabriel Gonzaga, who appears later on the list, but an injury brought in the PRIDE veteran.

Dos Santos was the betting favorite going into the fight and didn’t disappoint, landing a hard right hand in the first few minutes, earning the TKO stoppage.

Yvel initially tried to protest the stoppage, but replays showed the fight needed to be stopped. 

5. Stefan Struve

Event: UFC 95

Stefan Struve’s size causes problems for most fighters, but Dos Santos came into his second UFC fight with an excellent game plan and ended up needing little time to take out ‘The Skyscraper.’

Dos Santos clinched early, closing the distance to neutralize the reach of the lanky Struve, and after they broke apart, Junior opened up with his striking, throwing over a dozen big shots and knocking out his opponent in less than a minute. 

4. Gabriel Gonzaga

Event: UFC on Versus 1

The fifth straight UFC win for Dos Santos came at UFC on Versus 1, when he fought his original opponent for UFC 108, Gabriel Gonzaga.

Dos Santos came out and put the pressure on Gonzaga early, timing his punches and stuffing Gonzaga’s takedown attempt.

He then finished the fight in devastating fashion for the fourth time in the UFC, knocking down Gonzaga with a huge left hand and following up with some brutal ground-and-pound to leave Gonzaga unconscious. 

3. Mirko Cro Cop

Event: UFC 103

A huge test in Dos Santos’ UFC career came in his third fight inside the Octagon, when he took on PRIDE superstar Mirko Cro Cop.

After a close first round where Dos Santos hit Cro Cop with a hard right hand, ‘Cigano’ came out swinging in the second, countering Cro Cop’s punches with a couple big left hands that left Mirko rattled.

The third round was all Dos Santos, hitting Filipovic with some big knees from the clinch and landing an uppercut that busted Cro Cop’s eye, forcing the Croatian to verbally submit due to an eye injury.

2. Roy Nelson

Event: UFC 117

The fight was called a No. 1 contender’s bout going in, with the winner set to get a title shot in early 2011, and Dos Santos left little doubt as to who was the man deserving.

Dos Santos showed excellent takedown defense against Nelson throughout the fight, preventing the fight from going to the mat, where it seemed that Nelson had the advantage.

‘Cigano’ landed several huge uppercuts during the fight and had Nelson rocked numerous times, but to Nelson’s credit, he refused to go down.

Dos Santos didn’t get his aforementioned title shot, but he earned a spot as a coach opposite Brock Lesnar on The Ultimate Fighter.

1. Fabricio Werdum

Event: UFC 90

This fight was Dos Santos’ UFC debut, and he showed us how good he was almost immediately.

Werdum came into the fight as one of the top heavyweights in the UFC, riding back-to-back wins over Brandon Vera and Gabriel Gonzaga, and was the heavy favorite going into the fight.

Dos Santos ended all of that with one well-timed uppercut, knocking out Werdum with one of the most vicious uppercuts in UFC history in just a minute and a half.

The fight showed that Dos Santos was a force in the heavyweight division and started his run to the top of the organization.

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