By Mark Gessner

UFC 131: Dos Santos vs. Carwin
Aired on PPV from Rogers Arena in Vancouver, BC, Canada

1. Donald Cerrone vs. Vagner Rocha (Lightweight Division)

Round One: 10-9 Cerrone. Cerrone attempted a triangle choke early but Rocha was able to get free. Cerrone used leg kicks to set up combinations and landed with the majority of his punches.

Round Two: 10-9 Cerrone. Cerrone continued lighting up Rocha with leg kicks. Rocha attempted to take Cerrone to the ground but was unable to do so and could not goad Cerrone into going to the mat late in the round, following Cerrone knocking him down.

Round Three: 10-9 Cerrone. More leg kicks by Cerrone throughout the five minute final round. Cerrone actually knocked down Rocha a few times with his leg kicks. Dominant final round and all around performance by Cerrone. 30-27 Cerrone on my scorecard.

Official Decision: Donald Cerrone defeated Vagner Rocha via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26)

Gessner's Glance: Since losing to Ben Henderson in a WEC Lightweight Championship fight last April, Cerrone has been on a four fight win streak, and a dominant one at that. He's had two fight of the nights and impressive submission victories Chris Hordecki and Paul Kelly. Cerrone throws his name in the hat in a cluttered lightweight division. He's still maybe three or more more decisive wins away from a title shot.

2. Jon Olev Einemo vs. Dave Herman (Heavyweight Division)

Round One: 10-9 Einemo. Very evenly matched striking between both Einemo and Herman. Herman landed a few good knees in the clinch and Einemo responded with elbows. Great, close back-and-forth stand up but Einemo took the round with two takedowns.

Round Two: Herman dropped Einemo with a big knee and attempted to pound him out on the mat but Einemo was able to recover and get back to his feet. Herman then dropped Einemo with a left hook, dropped down, and started landing right hands until the referee stepped in and ended the fight.

Official Decision: Dave Herman defeated Jon Olev Einemo via TKO at 3:19 of the second round

Gessner's Glance: Great stand up battle and a good knockout victory for Herman. Both fighters were rocked at various parts of the second round but both were able to fight through it, until Herman began landing bombs to a grounded Einemo. This was the UFC debut for both fighters and both had impressive first showings. Following the show, both fighters received $70,000, being awarded with the Fight of the Night.

3. Demian Maia vs. Mark Munoz (Middleweight Division)

Round One: 10-9 Maia. Out struck Munoz throughout the five minutes. Munoz surprisingly did not go for a takedown until the final seconds of the round but time expired before he could score it.

Round Two: 10-9 Munoz. Munoz sprawled three takedowns attempts by Maia and grounded and pounded for the vast majority of the round in the sprawl.

Round Three 10-9 Munoz. Closely contested five minutes with both fighters landing good strikes throughout the round. Munoz secured the round with his two takedowns. 29-28 on my card.

Official Decision: Mark Munoz defeated Demian Maia via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)

Gessner's Glance: 30-27. Remember that score as it seemed to be a running theme for the night. No one who watched this fight and knows anything about the sport would give the first round to Munoz. Competence and intelligence though is not a requirement to be an MMA judge. With that said, this was a really good fight that was evenly matched but there was a clear-cut winner in each of the rounds that very few people would dispute. Munoz has won six of his last seven fights and continues to climb the 185 pound weight division ladder.

4. Kenny Florian vs. Diego Nunes (Featherweight Division)

Round One: 10-9 Nunes. Closely contested round with Nunes out striking Florian. Nunes landed a nice spinning backfist and closed out the round by dropping Florian with a left hook.

Round Two: 10-9 Florian. Another great, close round. Florian took the round with his three takedowns and ground striking to close out the round.

Round Three: 10-9 Florian. Florian scored three more takedowns to Nunes' none and busted open a big gash on the side of Nunes' head. 29-28 KenFlo on my card.

Official Decision: Kenny Florian defeated Diego Nunes via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)

Gessner's Glance: Another 30-27 when each round had a decisive winner, Nunes taking the first and Florian taking the final two. Amazing. Florian was very good in his debut at 145 pounds. For someone who was a middleweight finalist on the first season of The Ultimate Fighter to drop four weight classes and still win impressively is astonishing. He is most likely the next in line for a shot at Jose Aldo for the UFC Featherweight Championship.

5. Junior Dos Santos vs. Shane Carwin (Heavyweight Division)

Round One: 10-8 Dos Santos. Carwin shot in for an early takedown but JDS stuffed it. JDS worked a jab heavy striking style, jabbing with the left to set up a right. With about 2:00 left in the round, JDS dropped Carwin with a right and immediately pounced on him, dropping bomb after bomb after bomb. At any point, referee Herb Dean could have stepped in and ended the fight, but he didn't. At one point, JDS even looked up at Dean telling him to end it but he let the fight continue. Carwin somehow managed to survive the barrage and made it to the horn, ending the round.

Round Two: 10-9 Dos Santos. JDS came at Carwin with a mix of jabs, upper cuts, leg kicks, and even a head kick. Carwin was able to defend and showed decent head movement for someone who had their brains beaten in during the first round at the start of the round but he wore down as the fight went on.

Round Three: 10-9 Dos Santos. JDS went back to working the jab primarily and keeping Carwin at bay. Herb Dean stopped the fight with a minute remaining to have the doctors take a look at a cut near Carwin's eye. The doctor cleared him to continue. JDS closed out the round and fight with two very nice takedowns. 30-26 on my card.

Official Decision: Junior Dos Santos defeated Shane Carwin via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26)

Gessner's Glance: If I was ever going to bet on there being zero chance of a fight going to a decision, this would have been the fight I'd bet on a finish being a guarantee. Dos Santos dominated for the final twelve minutes of the fight. Carwin never fully recovered from the beating he took in the last half of the first round. With his victory tonight, Junior Do Santos will be getting a shot at Cain Velasquez for the UFC Heavyweight Championship, presumably in the late Fall pending on Velasquez not having any issues recovering from his shoulder injury.

Overall Show Thoughts: Despite Brock Lesnar being pulled from the original card due to his illness, this was still an excellent card. Cerrone continued his recent dominant winning streak. Herman won impressively in his UFC debut. Munoz won decisively over Maia and continued to elevate himself in the middleweight division. Florian looked good in his featherweight division and should be looking at a fight with Nunes' training partner Jose Aldo. JDS looked awesome with his first round pounding he gave Carwin. While the buy rate will most likely not be as high as it would have been with the original main event, this was still a very entertaining show.

Thanks again very much for clicking the link that brought you to my coverage of UFC 131: Dos Santos vs. Carwin. If you have any thoughts, questions, comments, or critiques, feel free to email me at kliq4life28@gmail.com or tweet me at @MarkGessner.

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