UFC Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos will again slug it out for the third and probably last time on Saturday at UFC 166 at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas.
For the third time, the UFC Heavyweight Championship belt will be contested between Velasquez and Dos Santos. But this time, there's more than just a belt on the line. On Saturday, this two ring gladiators will attempt to obliterate each other inside the Octagon for the bragging rights as the legitimate winner of their epic trilogy.
"I think the casual fan will remember the last fight between them and forget the ones before," Javier Mendez, Velasquez's head coach told ESPN.
"From my observation, [in trilogies], the guy who wins the last fight is the winner. Muhammad Ali was the winner [over Joe Frazier]. Arturo Gatti was the winner [over Micky Ward]. The casual fan only remembers the last fight," he added.
Velasquez absorbed his first loss of his career after he was knocked out by dos Santos in their first ever meeting in November of 2011. However, Velasquez came back strong and booked another shot at dos Santos after defeating Antonio Silva (via TKO) in their championship elimination match.
In their second fight, Velasquez fought a smarter game as he landed enough big shots to book a unanimous decision win over dos Santos and reclaim the Heavyweight title.
But as expected, Dos Santos put his self back in the title picture after winning his last fight in an impressive fashion. The 29-year-old Brazilian knocked out Mark Hunt with a spinning hook kick at 4:18 mark of the third round in the undercard of Valasquez vs. Silva bout.
Though both fighters don't rule out the possibility of meeting again in the future, it may take time for the loser of the bout to get another shot at the title.
"I think it will be settled for a while," Velasquez said. "I won't say we won't fight in five years or so. That's a possibility. But it will be settled for a while."
Fight Card
Heavyweight: Daniel Cormier vs. Roy Nelson
Lightweight: Gilbert Melendez vs. Diego Sanchez
Heavyweight: Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Shawn Jordan
Flyweight: John Dodson vs. Darrell Montague
Live Stream & Schedule
Live Stream of the UFC 166: Velasquez vs. Dos Santos showdown is available on UFC Pay-per-View and can be watched online or Television. UFC 166 Updates is available on UFC@Twitter
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