UFC on Fox: Junior "Cigano" Dos Santos Will Crush Cain Velasquez

On November 12th we will finally get to see what happens when an unstoppable force collides with an immovable object.  Junior dos Santos will finally face Cain Velasquez for the Heavyweight title on the debut installment of UFC on Fox!

Junior "Cigano" dos Santos and Cain Velasquez are both enigma's in their own way.  

Cigano has lost only one fight in his career, which came at the hands of Joaquim Ferreira in 2007.  He has since closed that hole in his fight game.  Nobody has managed to put Cigano on the ground and keep him there since that day and dos Santos has and undefeated 7-0 UFC record.

Cain Velasquez has simply never lost a fight.  Cain had a bit of a scare against Cheick Kongo, getting rocked and knocked down more than once, but managed to overcome and win the fight anyways. 

Each man has survived adversity on more than one occasion and each is a better fighter for it.  Nobody but Cain Velasquez can truly challenge Junior.  Nobody but Junior can truly challenge Cain.

So what is going to happen this Saturday?  On November 12th, Junior dos Santos will become the new UFC Heavyweight Champion of the World. 

The biggest X factor in this fight is pretty simple.  Cain Velasquez doesn't know what to expect from from Junior dos Santos.  Junior dos Santos knows exactly what to expect from Cain Velasquez. 

If he can get the fight to the ground, Cain Velasquez has no point of reference for what happens next.  Nobody in the UFC has ever put Cigano on his back and kept him there.  How good is this kid on the ground?  

Rumor has it that Cigano is very dangerous on the ground.  But how dangerous is he and how much is just hype?  Is he one of those talents that can pull off the impossible submission and make it look easy?  How good is Cigano's wrestling overall?  Nobody really knows. 

Cain doesn't even know if he can take Junior down and keep him there. 

Part of the problem is Junior dos Santos has a striking style that absolutely frustrates wrestlers. He strikes and then moves to the side and strikes again.  He counter-strikes from the side and moves away.  He hits you straight on when you think he's coming from the side.  He is masterful at keeping just the right distance to avoid his opponent's strongest attacks.  A wrestler's take downs are far less effective when his opponent is not standing directly in front of him or when they are too far away.

If Junior dos Santos keeps the fight standing, Junior and the rest of the MMA world already know he's the better striker.  If that wasn't bad enough, Cigano has plenty of tape of Cain's stand up and he can study.  He can readily gage how far his opponent will have progressed since the Lesnar fight.  He can see Cain's style and he can game plan around it.

There is one other X factor working against the champion.  Ring rust.  Junior dos Santos is not the type of fighter that you want to face after not fighting for over a year.

There is one clear path to victory for Cain.  If the rumors are true, Cain Velasquez has absolutely ridiculous cardio.  The longer this fight goes, the better his chances for victory should get.  Now that's only if Cain's cardio really is vastly better than Junior's.  We have every reason to believe that Cain can out-sprint Junior in a five round war and that's how Cain can win.  But this fight isn't going to last long enough for it to matter.

In a fight where anything can and probably will happen, I'm taking a stand here.  If you agree, disagree, think I'm completely out of my mind or just want to talk about this fight, let's hear about it in the comments section below!