At UFC 108, Junior dos Santos walked to the Octagon for the fourth time in his career.

Two minutes and seven seconds later, "Cigano" had earned his fourth consecutive victory.

In 15 months, the 25-year-old Brazilian "gypsy" has laid waste to Fabricio Werdum, Stefan Struve, Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic and Gilbert Yvel, only once going beyond the halfway mark of the first round.

Despite the obvious talent and impressive string of conquests, dos Santos somehow remains behind Shane Carwin and Cain Velasquez in the eyes of many fans and, more importantly, his bosses at the UFC.

The stance of the UFC is at least partially understandable.

Cain Velasquez is a young, American heavyweight prospect, who in addition to being undefeated thus far in his career, is of Mexican descent. The "Brown Pride" tattoo etched on his chest is not only a symbol of his passionate love for his heritage, but also something the UFC sees as highly-marketable and potentially lucrative.

Over the last few years, the UFC has expanded into England, Canada, Ireland and Germany, with UFC 110 announcing the company's presence in Australia, and a trip to Abu Dhabi also slated for 2010.

Mexico, and their massive population of fight fans, has long been a target of the UFC, and the company envisions Velasquez as the heavyweight powerhouse to help them accomplish that goal.

Shane Carwin's push has nothing to do with his ethnicity and everything to do with his power and pedigree.

A Division-II National Wrestling Champion at Western State College in Colorado, the 35-year-old Carwin is undefeated through 11 fights, including three straight in the UFC, all of which have ended by TKO inside the first round.

With the hyper-athletic, former Division-I National Champion Brock Lesnar atop the heavyweight mountain, Carwin represented the best combination of wrestling ability and brute strength the UFC could find to match-up against the champion.

While the logic behind both Carwin and Cain's pushes makes sense from the UFC's standpoint, what doesn't make much sense is how some fans of the sport fail to recognize that the up-and-coming Brazilian has accomplished more than both his contemporaries thus far.

Revisionist and opportunistic history are two tactics often employed by fight fans to make the contender they're backing appear like a more impressive fighter. For example:

Brock Lesnar hasn't done anything to earn the title. (Heath) Herring is nothing more than a tomato can, (Randy) Couture was far too old and undersized to compete at heavyweight, and all he did was lay on top of (Frank) Mir, forcing the air out of him. The fight should have been stood up.
- Anonymous Frank Mir fan

The tactics are applied, in tandem and individually, when discrediting dos Santos's accomplishments, and building up the resumes of both Carwin and Velasquez.

Fabricio Werdum, the first victim of Junior dos Santos in the UFC, has become a highly-overrated and altogether mediocre fighter with no standup since "Cigano" sent him packing with a vicious uppercut. At the time, however, Werdum was, and still is, a phenomenal grappler and a Top 20 heavyweight, not to mention a substantial favorite coming off back-to-back wins over Gabriel Gonzaga and Brandon Vera.

The second member of the "I Got Smashed by Junior dos Santos" Club, Stefan Struve, was making his debut at the time and was completely overmatched. It was true then and is true now,...