I remember like it was just yesterday, Cain came into the UFC 2-0 and he was unknown by many. Dude came in and impressed the hell outta Goldie & Rogan, touting him as possibly the next best thing. JDS who was relatively unknown & new to the UFC was suppose to be a sacrificial lamb to Fabricio Werdum who was well on his way to a title shot if he won this fight & JDS came in to upset him w/ one of the most vicious uppercuts ever. Cain started blitzing through his opponents, fast tracking him to a title shot. Before we knew it, he destroyed Kongo followed by total domination of Ben Rothwell & his last test before his title shot. His big KO win over Big Nog. JDS took a longer path to the title, decimating a who's who in the division, from destroying Werdum in his debut, destroyng Yvel, Gonzaga, Struve & the legendary Cro Cop before crossing paths w/ Nelson whom was his first decision win in the UFC followed by his last obstacle in the dangerously powerful Shane Carwin whom he dominated. JDS blitzed through his opponents as fast as Cain did, Cain reached the top in where everybody claimed that the biggest dude will be the hardest to dethrone. Cain proved everybody wrong & JDS did as well, that the biggest guys in the weight class wouldn't be a dominating factor in the HW division. November 21st, 2011 came & these beasts fought for the title in what I believed should've been a war but JDS came out the victor with a HL KO reel & left Cain down at that #2 spot, but this ignited a flame in Cain. UFC 146 came along earlier this year, revenge was on Cain's mind and he solidified that w/ hands down the bloodiest contested beatdown we've seen in quite sometime. JDS also fought on that card & proved Mir had no business trying to be at the top heap of the division. He made Mir look like he didn't belong in the cage w/ him and eventually Mir gave up and JDS just TKO'd him into the bottom of the Top 10. These two fight tonight for a 2nd time for the HW championship and only one will leave the victor. Regardless of what happens tonight, everybody has to admit that watching these two tag team the whole HW division was one of the most interesting things to happen to the division in quite some time. It's crazy that both are the #1 & #2 HW's in the world & I'm glad I watched them from back then til' now.
totally agree. What i think is interesting and funny, is that even in a division with 30 fighters, they have no common opponents.
I never noticed until now that these two haven't fought a single common opponent. That's crazy in the notoriously shallow HW division. Neither has done it one there own, but together they really have completely cleaned out the division. Excluding Overeem of course.
I think Carwin also started his UFC career around the same time. Cain, Carwin and JDS were making the HW division look like it was going to be awesome in the future. And sure enough Carwin won the interim belt and although he lost to Brock and JDS, he was still pretty impressive. Cain and JDS are still dominating and I think both will remain top 5 for a long time
Good shit, TS. Well said. We are indeed some lucky schmucks to be able to watch these two athletes face off at the peak of their careers. No one should have shame in defeat, because honestly, they probably beat everyone else beneath them.
Good post, i have mad respect for both fighters, i have my fighter chosen in Cain, but it wont hurt too bad to see him lose to someone who is literally that good. Still see Cain getting an upset tonight though and just showing how crazy good these two guys are. I dont think we have ever seen HW's like them, and im so glad they are doing it again.
No sweat, it's all good fun. And I did say probably, haha. Out of curiousity who do you think Alistair has a better chance at beating? It's like two bad situations for him, IMO. One guy is a phenomenal striker with speed, power, and precision who seemingly has one of the best chins in the division. The other doesn't have quite as crisp striking and footwork, or chin for that matter, but is a phenomenal wrestler. They're both fearless. I wish I could say the same for Overeem. Being a good wrestler, having a good chin, or being fearless. Jabs aside, I think both fighters beat Overeem. I think Overeem has a better chance at beating Cain though.
All the really good HW's have just now gotten into the UFC like Overeem,Cormier and soon hopefully Barnett and Sergei. Then we will see who the big dogs are....here is a hint. Neither JDS or Cain will be HW champ in 2014 at all.
