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UFC 166: Velasquez vs. dos Santos III was a mixed martial arts event held on October 19, 2013, at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas.
The main event was a UFC Heavyweight Championship bout between the current champion Cain Velasquez and top contender Junior dos Santos. The two have split their two previous encounters with Dos Santos winning the first bout via first-round knockout at UFC on Fox: Velasquez vs. dos Santos and then Velasquez winning the rematch via unanimous decision at UFC 155.
The bout almost lasted the full 25 minutes. The challenger had his moments where he looked to have hurt the champion, but for the most part, it was Velasquez implementing an excellent game plan which wore down Dos Santos until he managed to secure a finish late in the 5th round. Although Velasquez managed to take Dos Santos down a few times, he once again had a hard time keeping his rival down on the ground. This also happened during the second fight, but a great adjustment was made and Cain was instead able to implement an effective ‘wall-n-maul’ strategy for the majority of this bout. For the majority of the contest, Cain closed the distance and pushed Junior up the fence, constantly landing knee strikes and dirty boxing which wore down his opponent.
He effectively neutralized Dos Santos’ boxing as he never gave him room to breathe, and it left the challenger to attempt very few elbow strikes from the clinch. He wasn’t really able to reverse the position for most of the contest, and Cain continued to pile on with small shots that took their toll.
In the third round, Velasquez came really close to securing a finish after landing a big right hand. He dropped Junior twice that round, and Herb Dean almost stopped the contest when Cain was going in for the kill. Dos Santos was able to survive, but the following rounds it still went the same way. Velasquez continued with his effective strategy until he was able to completely wear down Dos Santos in the 5th. Junior desperately attempted a choke to try and finish the fight, but as Cain shrugged him over, he dropped down and Velasquez landed a flurry which forced the referee to stop the fight.
Velasquez TKO at 3:09 of the fifth round, successfully defending his title for the second time.