UFC on Fox: Junior dos Santos and the Truth About Being a Champion

Beneath the bright lights and the shocked collective eyes of the Honda Center, the UFC brass and 4.6 million Fox viewers, heavyweight challenger Junior dos Santos knocked out Cain Velasquez just 64 seconds into the first round.

Velasquez crumbled at the end of an overhand right to the skull and dos Santos’ flurry of punches when he hit the ground.

Though the fight was disappointingly short, it was nonetheless a testament to the meaning of the word "championship." It is a word that true sports fan understands. Ultimately, it is the reason we watch.

It is a question that each sports fan asks themselves. Do I have the will to be a champion?

The iron will of an uncompromising human being is not to be ignored.

Flight is an achievement of man’s will over gravity.

The Internet is an achievement of man’s will over the physical limitations of distance and the need to move information quickly.

Women’s suffrage is an achievement of the female collective will.

Civil rights is an achievement of African-American will.

The 660 men and women who have climbed Mt. Everest prove that human will is stronger than Earth’s tallest mountain.

Even space has begun to yield to human will.

Becoming the UFC Heavyweight Champion is a demand on the universe that it bend to your will and yield up to you the title of Earth’s mightiest fighter.

Only 30 men have been undisputed UFC heavyweight champions. It is an achievement of one man’s will over another’s.

Becoming a champion means overcoming even yourself. It means doing things that other people will not.

Cain Velasquez chose to prepare himself to become the 2005/2006 Pac-10 Wrestler of the Year and a tireless hard-hitting kick boxer who took it on himself to fight on behalf of an entire people.

Junior dos Santos had the will to achieve peak physical fitness.  I remember the last time I quit my latest 90-day fitness routine. Junior did not. Ever.

He had the will to meet the degree of clean living needed to stand toe to toe with the best fighters in the world.

He had the will to become an expert in three martial arts. Junior is an expert boxer and jiu-jitsu grappler with defensive wrestling skills.

Whether it’s the schedule, the diet, the fitness, the press work, the co-workers, the boss or the management or the actual fights, the road to the belt is beset with chores fighters will not enjoy.

I look out at the lawn I didn’t mow this weekend and understand why most people will never be a UFC champion.