Junior Dos Santos and Roy Nelson are going to tangle to decide who gets the next shot at the UFC heavyweight title. Of course Cain Velasquez and Brock Lesnar will fight first, but once that battle of bigmen is over it’s going to be the winner of Junior Dos Santos and “Big Country” which decides the next heavyweight title fight.

Big Country has the edge on the ground, he has a very strong BJJ background and is a tremendous athlete on the floor. He uses his weight real well and puts it all together with strikes and positional advancement to perfection. No matter who he seems to fight, once he gets it to the mat, he slowly works his way to the side control position, and from there traps his opponent’s arm and gets the side crucifix position. From there, it may be hard strikes or a successful of less damaging blows, but it’s a very tough position to get out for many.

On the feet, Junior Dos Santos has been an terror on the feet. Knockout after knockout and this Brazilian is been a menacing force at heavyweight. He’s also doing a great job using takedown defense and finding ways to keep the fight in the world he does ever so well in–the standup game. On the the feet he’s going to have an edge over Nelson, but Nelson has improved his striking quite a bit and has shown some effective KO power in his last 2 bouts.

KEY FACTS
-Roy Nelson is on a 2 fight win streak
-Junior Dos Santos has won 6 straight bouts
-Junior’s last 6 fights have been TKO/KO/Verbal Subs from strikes
-Santos began fighting in 2006
-Nelson began fighting in 2004
-Dos Santos is 11-1
-Nelson is 15-4
-Dos Santos is 5-0 in the UFC
-Nelson is 2-0 in the UFC
-Nelson’s last fight lasted 39 seconds against Stefan Struve
-Dos Santos also KO’d Struve in 54 seconds
-Nelson won KO of the Night last time out against Stefan Struve
-Dos Santos won KO of the night last time out against Gabriel Gonzaga
-Both fighters have won Knockout of the Night in the UFC twice
-In his last fight Dos Santos weighed in at 238 pounds
-Last time out Nelson weighed in at 263 pounds

Ex-Purdue University football player Matt Mitrione talks heavyweight fighters Kimbo Slice, Brock Lesnar and UFC 119 at Conseco Fieldhouse Sept. 25, 2010.

These two welterweights will compete against one another at UFC 119 on September 25th in Indianapolis, Indiana. Could be a very interesting standup battle. In their first battle they were both fighting not to lose, this time out they’re going to be fighting to win and put on a much better show.

This will be a very different fight from the first battle between these two at the TUF 4 finale. The first fight didn’t have much action and was pretty much a clinch war for the most part. Hardcore greco-roman wrestling fans might have enjoyed that affair, but for the most part it was not a widespread hit among the MMA community. This time around I think that’s going to be a lot different. Both fighters want to take that criticism they received for their first bout and make the second one a classic fight.

Matt Serra is a very different fighter now as well. He’s really turned up his striking game 10 notches and goes out there and bangs with his opponents. I don’t know if he’s going to stand with Lytle for the whole fight, because the former Indiana state boxing champ is quite a striker, but Serra will definitely be more comfy standing up and trading after scoring some great knockouts since that first bout with Lytle–taking out GSP and knocking out Frank Trigg in the American welterweight’s final fight in the UFC.

Lytle has also taken a very entertainment friendly approach to his style of fighting. He’s gunning for the W in every fight, but now it appears of paramount concern for the Indiana native is to make sure he’s putting on an entertaining show for the fans. And every time out he is.

This is going to be a good fight, and once again, just like when he fought GSP in Montreal, Matt Serra will walk into his opponents backyard of Indiana to fight. Serra’s comfortable in that role of being persona-non-grata, and should make for an interesting dynamic at UFC 119.

Whoever wins I’ll be more than happy for. Both of these guys I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and they are two of the most classy guys in the game. Chris Lytle is a gentleman and Matt Serra is extremely generous with fans, media and is a genuine person. An image that has never left my mind is Serra by the boardwalk in Atlantic City after losing a tough fight with Karo Parisyan, taking pictures with fans, and being friendly and smiling for the snaps, when deep inside you could tell he was hurting so bad from suffering that defeat to Parisyan. But still he made time to take all the pictures requested for him and was extremely nice to all of the fans and talked to them like a real person, and not anyone who was above them at all.

Best of luck to both fighters.

On November 11, 2006 Matt Serra defeated Chris Lytle to become the winner of The Ultimate Fighter 4 reality series.

On October 29, 2002, Chris Lytle defeated Yuji Hoshino via triangle choke in Tokyo in the Pancrase organization.

On August 18, 1974, UFC welterweight Chris Lytle was born in Indianapolis, Indiana.

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On August 11, 2007 Chris Lytle defeated Matt Brown by guillotine in Indiana.

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