UFC 155: Dos Santos vs. Velasquez is scheduled for Saturday, December 29, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. This will be the 24th UFC event held in the venue, and it will feature a stellar lineup of preliminary and pay-per-view main card matchups in addition to the heavyweight title fight.
UFC 155’s main event will be a rematch between the heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos (15-1) and contender Cain Velasquez (9-1). Velasquez lost the title to Dos Santos at UFC on FOX back in November, 2011, when he was KO’d within 64 seconds of the first round. Dos Santos hopes to keep the title, telling reporters that his “first strategy is always to knock [his] opponents out and [he] will try to do that again.”
The current champ made the fight against Velasquez look easy the first time around, but the rematch may go differently. According to UFC President Dana White, “Cain is on a mission to get the belt back and avenge the only loss of his career,” and the main event rematch is “the perfect fight to end 2012!” In an interview with a radio station out of Phoenix, Velasquez said, “December 29th my rematch with Dos Santos is coming up and I’m just ready for this. This is a loss that’s been in the back of my head for a year now. Can’t wait to get in there and bring that belt back to Arizona.”
UFC 155 is looking to be one that fans should not miss. The remaining fight card also features a slew of other great fights, some taking place on Pay-Per-View with the preliminary bouts being broadcast freely on FX. Former light-heavyweight champion Forest Griffin will face Phil “Mr. Wonderful” Davis. Griffin was initially scheduled to fight Chael Sonnen, but Sonnen was replaced due to his appearance on the upcoming 17th season of The Ultimate Fighter. Griffin is a veteran dating back to season one of The Ultimate Fighter, while Davis is a relative newcomer to the sport with a recent submission victory over Wagner Prado at UFC 153.
The main card will also feature bouts between middleweights Chris Weidman (9-0) and Tim Boetsch (16-4), and lightweights Joe Lauzon (22-7) and Gray Maynard (12-1-1). Weidman and Boetsch are both contenders in the middleweight division, with the winner likely receiving a title shot against Anderson Silva at a later Pay-Per-View.
The freely broadcast preliminary card is set to feature seven additional fights. These will include Alan Belcher vs. Yushin Okami, Chris Leben vs. Karlos Vemola, Brad Pickett vs. Eddie Wineland, Erik Koch vs. Ricardo Lamas, Phil De Fries vs. Matt Mitrione, Byron Bloodworth vs. Erik Perez, and an unofficial matchup between Myles Jury and Michael Johnson.
Tickets for UFC 155 went on sale to the general public on Friday, October 26, at 10:00 a.m. PDT
