UFC 146 saw an all-heavyweight main card a week after the end of the Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix and the night after Cole Konrad defended his Bellator heavyweight title.

This has been one of the biggest two week periods in heavyweight history and, as such, it's worth taking a look at the rankings to see how things will shake out. So let's take a look at all the heavyweights who have fought over these two weeks (and some who haven't) and see how the division looks going forward. We'll use the best rankings in the sport, the USA Today / SB Nation Consensus Rankings.

Rising

- #1 Junior dos Santos - Rising may be "wrong" in terms of the number-one guy not being able to "rise" any further. But, with many people feeling you need to defend your title successfully to "truly" be champion, Junior got that title defense out of the way in emphatic fashion.

- #2 Cain Velasquez - Similar to Junior, he's more "holding steady" but any concerns that Cain's career would crumble on the back of his loss to Junior are gone as he demolished Antonio Silva.

- #6 Daniel Cormier - Completely dominated Josh Barnett to earn a well deserved top 5 heavyweight spot.

- #14 Roy Nelson - I don't know that Roy deserves to be higher than 14, but beating Dave Herman kind of re-establishes him as the "not quite top-10 but not a bad fighter" that he is.

- #18 Cole Konrad - He was dominant enough against arguably the best opponent Bellator has to offer. I have no clue what there is left for him outside of the UFC at this point, but he can enjoy a solid win for a little while before we freak out about it.

- #19 Stefan Struve - Lavar Johnson was a flawed opponent and certainly not as tough as Mark Hunt would have been, but Struve fought smart and took a pretty easy win. I have a feeling Struve might end his career with the most UFC fights ever.

- Unranked Stipe Miocic - Shane del Rosario is a tough fighter and Miocic survived a rocky first round to take him down and dominate in the second. It was impressive enough that Miocic should check in in the top 25 in the next rankings.

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After over a month the UFC returns to Pay-Per-View to kick off their summer series of cards with an all Heavyweight offering. And that main card just flew by, as it seemed like no time until Junior dos Santos was in the cage facing Frank Mir. Every single main card fight ended in the first or second round and as a result the card had come to an end with over an hour early.

Needless to stay a main card with nothing but stoppages was quite entertaining and the all Heavyweight concept of this PPV seemed to work well. I'm not sure how repeatable it is because the not-so-secret secret of this card was because the injuries that hit this event the card was stacked with mismatches. The UFC Heavyweight division, while growing in depth with the migration of Strikeforce fighters, is still shallow and something of a time machine back to the early 2000s. In what other modern weight-class could a fighter with absolutely no ground game, like Lavar Johnson, or trains part time, like Dave Herman, compete on the main card of a PPV? The Heavyweight division is evolving but there is still plenty of room for new talent to filter through.

Hit the jump for more perspective...

SBN coverage of UFC 146: Dos Santos vs. Mir

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UFC 146 is in the books and while it wasn't exactly the stacked card it was supposed to be, it was pretty enjoyable overall. Nine out of the twelve fights were finished before the final bell and none of the main card fights got out of the second round. The casual fans I talked to after the show were far more enthralled by the action than they were about UFC 145, even though that card will probably end up doing a better buyrate. The bottom line is that the UFC got the best out of what they had left and a 3.5 million dollar gate at the MGM isn't too shabby. Let's get on to the winners and losers from last night's event.

Winners

Junior dos Santos: The champ is here. The result might have been expected, but JDS looked totally dominant tonight over a former UFC heavyweight champion and successfully defended his title for the first time. Yes it should have been Alistair Overeem at the other end of those strikes, but we've got to come to grips with the fact that we're not going to see that anytime soon. What's next for Dos Santos? Dana definitely hinted at a rematch between JDS and former champ Cain Velasquez at the post-fight press conference. But he also implied that Daniel Cormier would probably get an immediate title shot if he was to come over to the UFC sometime soon. It'll definitely be interesting to see who faces Cigano next.

Cain Velasquez: Cain looked awesome. He took Antonio Silva down less than ten seconds into the fight and basically turned the octagon into a butcher shop. There are very few fights I can think of (Hieron/Goulet, Penn/Stevenson) that were bloodier than that bout, but Cain was all kinds of effective despite the plasma. Whether he earned a title shot is up for debate, but he certainly proved once again that he is at the absolute top of the heap in the heavyweight division.

Roy Nelson: I don't think he would have made my winners list without a picture-perfect finish, but that's exactly what he got. That bomb he dropped on Dave Herman's chin was devastating, and the way Herman collapsed into a sitting position just made it even more memorable. We all know Big Country isn't going to challenge for the title anytime soon but he's reliably entertaining and an excellent litmus test for the up-and-comers in the division. It might be a tad early to push Stipe Miocic that far up the card, but Nelson seems like a natural next opponent for him.

Jamie Varner: I've never tried to hide the fact that I generally can't stand The Worm, but he absolutely deserves props for his performance at UFC 146. He blasted right through a top prospect and looked brilliant doing it, then followed it up by playing his cards right when he was interviewed after the bout. He had every reason to throw that win in the face of everyone that ever wrote him off, but instead he took the high road and showed humility and respect (two things that were missing from the WEC version of Jamie Varner). He already shot down the idea of a third bout with Donald Cerrone in a post-fight interview with MMA Fighting's Ariel Helwani, for those wondering about it. But he's now a fixture in the organization, and he became an unlikely reason for me to bust out one of my favorite sayings - All Hail The WEC.

Dan Hardy: I thought it would be a terrible idea for Hardy to stand with a solid Muay Thai practitioner like Duane Ludwig, but he defied the odds and knocked Bang out with his patented left hook and some nasty elbows. I was absolutely not a fan of Dana White's shameless Hardy cheerleading after the bout, but that's not The Outlaw's fault. He was in a do-or-die situation, and he kept his job with the win. It's hard to hate on that.

Glover Teixeira: Glover has been destroying folks outside the UFC for years and it was such a treat to finally see him in the octagon. He completely dominated Kyle Kingsbury on the feet and on the mat. It's way too early to say we have a new potential top contender at light heavyweight, but it's pretty clear that Teixiera will be a forced to be reckoned with in the future.

Losers after the jump.

SBN Coverage of UFC 146: Dos Santos Vs. Mir

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Junior dos Santos dominated Frank Mir in the main event of UFC 146. It appeared that once Mir's first attempt at a takedown failed, he resigned himself to engaging in a kickboxing match. That was a fight that Mir would not have any chance of winning and it played out as one would expect.

The straight right hand, an orthodox fighter's staple against a southpaw like Mir, landed over and over for Junior, this wore him out and by the second round it seemed like every shot that landed was hurting Mir badly. Once Mir was fighting against ghosts for the third or fourth time in the fight, it was mercifully stopped after a perfunctory hammerfist by dos Santos.

Junior proved that he is a legitimate champion, if anyone had any doubts based on a quick KO over Cain to win the belt. It may not have been the Overeem fight we wanted, but Frank Mir is a hell of an opponent to handle with such ease.

• Cain Velasquez's performance against Antonio Silva was terrifying. Silva is a bit flawed and, obviously, isn't impossible to beat, but Cain did unspeakable things to him. He dominated him and basically covered the entire canvas in his blood before turning it up yet another notch and getting the stoppage. Just brutal effectiveness.
• As I said on Twitter, there's a legitimate chance that Cain Velasquez is the best heavyweight on the planet still. Losing on a quick KO doesn't really prove that he isn't truly the best. I'm not saying I necessarily think that it's the case, but I'm not willing to write that possibility off just yet.
• Dave Herman is a guy whose career has been mostly about how good he could be rather than how good he is. He's like hyper-Brandon Vera. Roy Nelson knocking his block off with a punch that started in Nelson's back pocket was pure craziness.
• Shane del Rosario has never been a guy I was all that high on, but Stipe Miocic was a really hard fight to come back to. Shane probably could have stood to receive a little bit easier of a comeback. Once Miocic got the fight to the ground in the second round, it was clear he had no intention of letting it get back up. It's kind of amazing that the cut he left on Shane's face became almost forgettable by the sheer volume of blood in the Bigfoot fight.

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SBN coverage of UFC 146: Dos Santos vs. Mir

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Junior dos Santos vs. Frank Mir

Brent Brookhouse: On the feet, it's advantage JDS. On the ground, it's Mir with the edge. But getting it from the feet to the ground isn't going to be easy for Mir. Mir does have a little pop in his punches, but dos Santos should be more than able to not get caught and stopped. Junior dos Santos by TKO, round 2.

Anton Tabuena: I'm still ‘pissed' about Overeem's test... Frank Mir doesn't have good takedowns, and Junior Dos Santos has excellent takedown defense. So unless he makes a silly mistake, Mir is likely to get blasted here. I'd actually hope that Mir pulls guard just to make things more interesting. I doubt it would help though. Junior dos Santos by KO.

KJ Gould: It starts on the feet, and Mir almost always eats more shots than he lands against a superior striker. JDS is a more powerful boxer than Nogueira and I really can't see him making the same mistake as Noguiera and attempting a guillotine choke while pulling guard on a stunned Frank Mir. Mir gets dropped, and if he's not out cold, JDS will either let him back up, or swing hard at his head if he's turtled. Junior dos Santos by KO

T.P. Grant: I know I pointed out Junior dos Santos' defensive liabilities when he throws punches, but I'm not crazy. Frank Mir is likely not the guy to take advantage of those openings. The most likely outcome of this fight is dos Santos smashing Mir with punches until he collapses to the ground. Even if Mir gets a takedown I doubt he will be able to keep dos Santos down but I do think if dos Santos engages in a grappling match Mir has a good chance of getting a submission. But that just isn't going to happen, so Mir needs to rely on landing a big punch before dos Santos and that just plain isn't likely. Junior dos Santos by KO

Tim Burke: Mir's standup is predictable. Cigano's isn't. As stated above, Mir doesn't really have the takedowns to get it to the mat and JDS is smart enough not to engage him there willingly. Seems pretty easy to call for me - Mir gets caught with a big shot, goes down, gets pounded out. Junior dos Santos by KO, round 1

Fraser Coffeen: I hate the way people are already jumping all over dos Santos and viewing him as unbeatable. Mir in fact has the tools to beat him on the mat. The trouble is, Mir gets too enamored with his striking, and while that striking has greatly improved over the years, he still is slow to respond when he gets hit (see the Carwin fight for a great example). Against a power puncher and finisher like JDS, that's doom. Junior dos Santos by KO, round 1

Ben Thapa: Have you ever seen that video of the sloth trying to cross the road and someone picks it up, only to have R. Kelly's I Believe I Can Fly play? Frank Mir has been the sloth trying to cross the road for quite a while now. He wins in impressive, bone-breaking and brain-crunching fashion against the lower level guys. But then he, like the sloth, looks across that expanse of asphalt towards the Promised Land of More Trees/Holding The Title Belt Again. I fully respect Mir's skill package, but still believe that it would take divine intervention for Mir-Sloth to cross the asphalt and beat Cigano here. That was one tortured metaphor, but referencing I Believe I Can Fly on Bloody Elbow is worth it. Two Saints, KO, Round 1.

Dallas Winston: To play devil's advocate, I think most are assuming that JDS has sharpened up his grappling and submission defense since Joaquim "Mamute" Ferreira armbarred him in 2007. Other than the sparse takedown defense he showed against Gonzaga and Carwin (who both got him down briefly), assumptions are all that's available because he simply hasn't been locked in a ground battle with a talented submissionist. So, that, along with Mir's propensity to pull off the impossible, give this match a certain appeal. Unfortunately, Mir has struggled against lumbering power punchers and JDS is a lightning-fast KO machine. Mir's wrestling, particularly with trips and throws in the clinch, has improved, but the speed and elite boxing of JDS should be surgical weapons against Mir. Junior dos Santos by TKO.

Staff picking Dos Santos: KJ, Anton, Grant, Tim, Brookhouse, Fraser, Thapa, Dallas
Staff picking Mir:

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Way back on March 8th, I wrote a piece asking if UFC 146 was the most stacked heavyweight card in history. Oh my, how times have changed. In just two and a half months the card has been completely ravaged to the point that it barely resembles the original. Alistair Overeem's removal was the crown jewel of destruction, but let's just take a look at the main card on March 15th compared to today's before we take a stroll down memory lane to see what got us here.

Then:

Junior dos Santos vs. Alistair Overeem
Cain Velasquez vs. Frank Mir
Antonio Silva vs. Roy Nelson
Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Shane Del Rosario
Stefan Struve vs. Mark Hunt

Now:

Junior Dos Santos vs. Frank Mir
Antonio Silva vs. Cain Velasquez
Dave Herman vs. Roy Nelson
Shane Del Rosario vs. Stipe Miocic
Lavar Johnson vs. Stefan Struve

Yes, only three men were eliminated from the card (Alistair Overeem, Gabriel Gonzaga and Mark Hunt). But every single bout was changed because of those three dropping out. Remember the gigantic uproar over Mark Hunt stepping in for Overeem and getting the title shot? The #Rally4MarkHunt was the bane of my existence for a few days until Dana White finally backhanded all the Super Samoan fans with some logic. Can you just imagine if he did lose his mind for a second and gave him the title shot? There would have been even more chaos.

SBN coverage of UFC 146: Dos Santos vs. Overeem Mir

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UFC Heavyweight Champion Junior dos Santos is preparing for his first title defense this weekend against former Champion Frank Mir. The May 28th card features an all Heavyweight main card that includes several of the best fighters in MMA.

While the scandal with Alistair Overeem's elevated testosterone levels has reduced this card to some degree, it is still packed full of action. In Junior dos Santos' eight fight career in the UFC he has brutalized opponents on the feet with his imposing striking. The challenger Frank Mir has a history of not faring well against hard punchers, and the speed and power with which dos Santos throws punches doesn't bode well for Mir.

Related Coverage: UFC 146 Fight Card: Dos Santos Vs. Mir | UFC's Shane Del Rosario Hopes To Be A Title Contender After Three Fights | Video: That Weird Retro UFC 146: Junior Dos Santos Vs. Frank Mir Trailer | UFC 146: Stefan Struve Blogs About New Opponent Lavar Johnson | UFC 146: Junior Dos Santos' Coach Says Cigano Better Than Frank Mir Striking And On The Ground

SBN coverage of UFC 146: Dos Santos vs. Mir

While Mir is a healthy underdog and rightly so, there is vulnerability in dos Santos' striking that has been present for his entire career and to this point has gone unexploited.

more after the jump...

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Watching this week's episode of UFC The Ultimate Fighter Live, I was struck by an unfortunate realization - I'm kind of burnt out on this season.

It's not anything that happened this episode. While this week's pair of fights lacked the drama of last week's two underdog wins, these were both entertaining fights. Vinc Pichel vs. Chris Saunders was a fun scrap, while Al Iaquinta scored a brutal KO win over Andy Ogle. Two live, free fights and one step closer to the finals should leave me with nothing to complain about. And I hate being negative. But...

Here in week 11, it just feels a bit like going through the motions, and watching the show felt too much like a chore this week. Because once you've seen everyone fight once in the opening round, what you end up with tends to be fights with great heart, but not always superb technique. I don't always demand flawless fighters, and many times its a fighter's flaws that make him intriguing, but that intrigue is hard to sustain over the course of 3 months.

And it looks like I'm not alone in this view, as this week's episode dropped down to 821,000 viewers - a 13% drop from last week's already low ratings. That makes this episode the lowest rated episode of TUF in its 15 season run. Ouch.

On an episode of Mauro Ranallo's MMA Show podcast last week, there was discussion of how this season hasn't succeeded in producing any emerging stars. And to a large degree, I think that's true. Michael Chiesa and Andy Ogle have brought out their personalities and have won me over in the process, but is there a real break-out star in the mix? At the moment, I don't see it. Which is unfortunate, as I do think this is a talented group.

And if you're talking talent, you need to bring up Al Iaquinta. With his 1st round KO of Ogle, he now stands tall as the favorite to claim the season. He's got good stand-up, nice power, and strong determination. He also has a total lack of personality, but perhaps that non-personality can become his persona if he keeps winning. He's definitely the one I am most interested to watch in the UFC right now, and the one I find most UFC-ready.

As for Pichel, he put in another nice performance, showcasing his relentless attack. That combo midway through round 2 was intense. He needs a bit more seasoning overall, but he's a tough fighter. His showdown with Iaquinta next week could be pretty great.

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