UFC 131's Dos Santos-Carwin winner to meet Velasquez "in four to five months"
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – As expected, the winner of Saturday's UFC 131 headliner between Junior Dos Santos and Shane Carwin gets the next heavyweight title shot.
And according to UFC president Dana White, it could happen by year's end.
White discussed the plans during Wednesday's pre-UFC 131 press conference at Jack Poole Plaza in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
White, who's waiting for UFC heavyweight Cain Velasquez (9-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) to recover from shoulder surgery, is hopeful the titleholder will be back to action and ready to defend his title in "four to five months." Velasquez injured the shoulder in an October title win over then-champ Brock Lesnar and underwent surgery earlier this year.
As MMAjunkie.com (
www.mmajunkie.com) recently reported, White would like to use Velasquez in the headliner of a UFC 136 event planned for Oct. 8 in Houston.
In the mean time, he's got his interest captured by Saturday's title-eliminator.
"This is one of the best heavyweights fights the UFC has had in a long time," he said.
Of course, Dos Santos (12-1 MMA, 6-0 UFC) vs. Carwin (12-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) only came about after a series of setbacks. Dos Santos had already been promised a title shot before Velasquez was sidelined by the injury and subsequent surgery. Dos Santos then opted to coach against Lesnar on "The Ultimate Fighter 13," which recently concluded, and meet in a season-ending fight. However, Lesnar was sent to the sidelines with a second bout of diverticulitis. That opened the door for Carwin, who hasn't fought since his own title loss to Lesnar back in July.
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