UFC 131 Results Video: Junior Dos Santos Hopes To Fight Cain Velasquez ASAP

UFC 131 is in the books and Junior dos Santos retained his spot as the No. 1 contender for Cain Velasquez’s UFC heavyweight title by defeating fellow top contender Shane Carwin tonight.

MMAFighting’s Ariel Helwani caught up with the precision-punching heavyweight after the event and asked him about both the Carwin fight as well as his future fight with Velasquez.

“I’m happy [with my performance]. I was a bit nervous,” dos Santos admitted about his fight tonight with Shane Carwin. “But like I said, I have good takedown defense and so I proved that tonight.”

Many expected that Carwin would try to bring the fight to the ground where he may be able to use his wrestling to control things. But dos Santos kept the fight standing and frustrated the Colorado native.

It was there that he landed some violent shots in the first round that rocked and nearly ended the night early for Carwin. Referee Herb Dean watched closely as dos Santos rained down shots while seeming to mouth something along the lines of, “Are you going to stop this?” to the referee.

But in hindsight, Dos Santos now understands why the fight wasn’t stopped.

“No, no. I think [Herb Dean] did it well and he did it right,” he conceded. “You saw Shane Carwin back on his feet and kept the fight going. So it was the right decision.”

One of the biggest concerns about Shane Carwin coming into this fight was how much his cardio had improved from the disastrous performance we saw him in against Brock Lesnar. He certainly looked much better even after taking a crazy amount of punishment.

“His cardio is pretty good,” Dos Santos agreed. “I did a safe fight, you know? Because he’s got heavy shots, dangerous hands.”

It was that safe style that likely allowed this fight to go to a decision.

“I’m not disappointed. He’s got a hard chin. Like I said, I did a safe fight. I just kept the fight [where] it was better for me.”

There has not yet been a date for the showdown between dos Santos and Velasquez for the title, but if JDS had it his way, it wouldn’t be long.

“I hope as soon as possible,” he said with a smile.

Stay tuned to Bleacher Report for all things UFC 131, including the latest UFC 131 results, fight card analysis, UFC 131 news and live reaction from Vancouver.