Cain Velasquez's KO of Minotauro Vaults Him Into UFC Title Contention, Removes Impediment to Junior dos Santos's Rise

After UFC 110 in Sydney Saturday night, UFC President Dana White told the post-event press conference, “In my opinion, [Fighters.com's fourth-ranked heavyweight “Minotauro” Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (32-6-1)] is probably the best heavyweight of all time, and [Cain Velasquez (9-0)] absolutely demolished him tonight. He’s for real and he’s in the line right now.”

Velasquez certainly turned more heads than just Big Nog’s with the right hook the was the beginning of the end for the former PRIDE and interim UFC champion.  Fighters.com certainly didn’t imagine that end to the fight, and we suspect neither did most of you.  The win plants Velasquez firmly in title contention in the UFC.

White added, “We’ll see what happens with [third-ranked Frank Mir (13-4)] and [sixth-ranked Shane Carwin (10-0) ] – see who wins that – and if the guys come out unscathed, they’ll fight for the title. If not, then Cain Velasquez will get that slot.”

But, Velasquez’s win also cleared a path to the title for Nogueira’s prodigy fifth-ranked ”Cigano” Junior dos Santos (9-1).  dos Santos had been waiting as the more popular, better vetted Nogueira chased the title because the two wouldn’t fight each other as contenders.  Now that Velasquez has removed Nogueira from the title picture for awhile, dos Santos can step up as a serious contender.

Could Velasquez and dos Santos be on a collision course themselves?  If the winner of Mir-Carwin is able to challenge UFC champion and second-ranked Brock Lesnar (4-1) in July, the question for Velasquez will be whether or not he wants to wait possibly until 2011 to fight again or take a dangerous fight versus a fellow contender, but someone ranked lower than the legend he just beat.