5 UFC rematches that were a carbon copy of the first fight
This weekend sees Israel Adesanya and Robert Whittaker face off in their long-awaited rematch with the UFC middleweight title on the line. Naturally, Whittaker will be hoping that the fight doesn’t go the same way as their first bout.
Naija stand up! HE'S DONE IT!
@Stylebender finishes Whittaker in the 2nd round! Wow! #UFC243 https://t.co/IS1f8lL8Lt
If Robert Whittaker’s clash with Israel Adesanya ends in the same way as their first fight, though, it won’t be the first rematch in UFC history to end up as a copy of the earlier bout.
We’ve seen plenty of rematches in the octagon over the years that have seen a fighter promise a different result, only to fall in the exact same way that they’d done to the same opponent previously. Essentially, some fighters just seem to have the number of their rivals.
With that in mind, here are five UFC rematches that went the same way as the first fight did.
#5. Cain Velasquez vs. Junior dos Santos – UFC 166
When Cain Velasquez won the UFC heavyweight title from Brock Lesnar in late 2010, most fans believed that a new era had begun in the division. After all, Velasquez was undefeated and had sliced right through the likes of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Ben Rothwell before crushing Lesnar. Essentially, he looked unbeatable.
That changed in an instant when he ran into Junior dos Santos and suffered a first-round knockout defeat, losing his title in the process. However, Velasquez had reportedly been injured in that fight and when he was granted a rematch with ‘Cigano’, he wasted no time in righting the wrongs.
The former collegiate wrestling standout pushed a pace that was too high for dos Santos to match, abusing him in the clinch, taking him down and hammering him with heavy strikes both standing and on the ground.
@cainmma One year after their initial match up, Velasquez dominated Dos Santos for five rounds at UFC 155 to regain his championship. https://t.co/amLbQqBo63
The fight ended with a clear-cut decision for Velasquez, who regained his title. However, less than a year later, he was faced with dos Santos again, after the Brazilian showed some new striking wrinkles in a win over Mark Hunt.
The Brazilian's fans hoped that he would find a way to use this striking power against his rival. Unfortunately, he simply wasn’t equipped with the right tools to deal with what Velasquez had to offer.
Instead, the third meeting between the two was literally a carbon copy of the second, with Velasquez mashing dos Santos in the clinch and battering him from pillar to post. The only difference was that while ‘Cigano’ survived to the final buzzer in their second bout, he was stopped in the final round of their third.
This was a rematch that proved one thing; despite suffering a loss in his first meeting with dos Santos, Velasquez was firmly the better fighter overall.