Santos Takes Down Mir at UFC 146 to Retain Title

By - Kris Fletcher

Junior dos Santos successfully defended his heavyweight title at UFC 146 on Saturday, taking down challenger Frank Mir in the second round.

Santos drilled Mir with a huge right hand and finished him on the ground at the 3:04 mark to emphatically retain his championship.

Photo by: Jason Merritt

Afterwards, Santos (15-1) wrapped himself in a Brazilian flag while celebrating his first title defense since taking the belt from Cain Velasquez last fall.

"I feel awesome," Santos said. "Frank Mir is a really good fighter, but I came here to defend my belt, and I did it."

Mir (16-6), who had won three consecutive fights since losing a title shot to Shane Carwin back in March of 2010, couldn't reclaim the title he held in early 2009 before losing to Brock Lesnar.

"Junior is a champ," Mir said. "He's fast. I couldn't get out of the way. He hit me hard. There were just too many of them, and they were hard shots. I couldn't do anything about it."

Cain Velasquez, Roy Nelson, Stipe Miocic and Stefan Struve also won on a pay-per-view card topped with five heavyweight fights -- a first in UFC history.