There is a report out that Brazlian heavyweight Junior dos Santos (5-0 UFC, four knockouts) went to UFC brass to ask for a bout with fellow undefeated heavyweight Cain Velasquez (6-0 UFC, five knockouts). He claims that his request was denied. UFC President Dana White has booked returning heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar vs. interim heavyweight champion Shane Carwin at UFC 116 in July. Velasquez, with his win over Minotauro Nogueira, has earned a title shot at the winner in late-autumn, early-winter (October/November). In the meantime neither Velasquez nor dos Santos have a fight booked. White has been asked about pitting dos Santos against Velasquez before but has a desire to keep both fighters as title contenders by making them wait their turn. Though he claims the heavyweight division is the best it has been in UFC history, keeping contenders from fighting each other seems to suggest there is a lack of options for title fights. In other divisions top contenders regularly fight each other in title eliminator fights (Thiago Silva/Lyoto Machida, Nate Marquardt/Demian Maia, Josh Koscheck/Paul Daley, Frank Edgar/Sean Sherk, etc.). Reportedly, dos Santos will fight Roy Nelson if the pudgy pugilist is able to defeat Cheick Kongo. After defeating Gabriel Gonzaga it would seem fighting Nelson is a step back for dos Santos but he has expressed interest in the fight. Velasquez is also going to be given a tune-up style fight between now and October/November. Does this make sense? Is it just encouraging fighters like JDS and Cain Velasquez to fight safe to keep their title shot?
I'm glad Dana shut him down. I think Cain deserves the title shot more than JDS right now and he should get the winner of Brock/Shane. JDS can get the winner of Cain/???.
Probably smart of Dana in the long run. Cain has earned a title shot as is so its risky to have him fight Dos Santos. Those two guys are the future at HW so I'm sure Dana wants to build them both up via fights for a title rather than sidetracking one of their careers if one had to lose to the other right now. After Lesnar/Carwin Cain can get a title shot and Dos Santos can get the loser of Lesnar/Carwin or the following title shot with a Roy Nelson fight in the meantime. I'm not for fight-dodging but I do think denying this fight right now makes sense from Dana White's standpoint. These guys have plenty of time left to fight each other in the future and it could likely be for much higher stakes.
