Dos Santos Predicts Longer Fight, Knockout Win Against Velasquez

UFC Heavyweight Champion Junior Dos Santos

Dos Santos prepared for longer fight, predicts KO at UFC 155

UFC heavyweight Junior dos Santos may not have seen a healthy Cain Velasquez when the two met at UFC on FOX 1, but it's not as if he was without injury himself.

In the days leading up to the fight, dos Santos suffered a knee injury, though he elected to remain on the card. That decision paid off as he walked out of the cage with the heavyweight strap.

And it only took 64 seconds for him to do it.

Even with the fight over in what seemed to be a blink of an eye - 64 seconds can feel like that sometimes in MMA - dos Santos says he learned plenty from the contest, which was the biggest of his professional career.

Heading into UFC 155 on December 29 in a rematch against Velasquez, dos Santos looks back on that special victory.

"I think I learned some things in that first fight for sure," dos Santos said on a media call for UFC 155. "That fight, for me, was really good. I enjoyed a good moment and I won the fight... I learned some things from that fight and I'm going to use that."

It's hard to imagine that much can be learned in just 64 seconds, but at the end of the month dos Santos has 25 minutes scheduled against Velasquez to learn a bit more what he can do.

But, in a heavyweight contest, the pair know better than most how quickly a scheduled five round contest can turn into a very short night.

Dos Santos predicts a little more cage time come fight night this time around, however, and believes the rematch will be "very different than the other."

"The first fight was very fast," said dos Santos. "It was a very quick fight. I learned some things from that fight. I think this fight now is going to be longer, because that fight was too fast, just one minute."

With a potentially very different fight on the horizon, dos Santos is prepared for anything, whether it be Velasquez's wrestling or his ground and pound. The heavyweight champion certainly thinks both could be a factor, and he's gone on record to say that a submission victory is not out of the question.

But that doesn't stop dos Santos from predicting his win will come via his signature fashion.

"It doesn't matter what happens," dos Santos said, referring to Velasquez's gameplan. "I think I'm going to knock him out again."

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