UFC 146 Junior Dos Santos’ first test as champion
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The UFC Heavyweight belt is something of a cursed chalice in the MMA world. It tends to take promising fighters, lure them in, and give them a sprinkling of glory, before dumping them on the sidewalk for the next best thing.
This weekend at UFC 146 Junior ‘Cigano’ Dos Santos gets his first chance to defend the title he won last November, and the likeable Brazilian may well have the talent and skill to become the most dominate heavyweight champion in the UFC’s history.
There is a saying in the fight game: you aren’t a real champion until you have defended your belt. No heavyweight fighter has managed to put together more than two defences after winning the coveted title.
Every other division has had at least one dominate champion, who has put together a long string of defences. Names like Jose Aldo, Anderson Silva, Georges St Pierre, Dominick Cruz and Jon Jones come to mind.
Many tipped Cain Velasquez, the fighter Dos Santos dethroned, would become that first dominate champion and his time may still come. But right now Dos Santos is king of the hill and doesn’t look like going anywhere, anytime soon.
Dos Santos’ record speaks for itself; he is 14-1, with ten knockouts and two submissions. Not only is he unbeaten in the UFC, no one has even come close to matching him.
Dos Santos is a blueprint for a modern fighter: smart, skilled and dedicated.
His boxing is silky smooth; he counts Anderson Silva and Lyoto Machida as sparing partners and anyone who can hang with those two in stand-up can be counted amongst the best.
Throughout his run to the top he has left a trail of outclassed or knocked out fighters in his wake.
Quite simply no one in the heavyweight division can keep up with him on his feet.
Dos Santos’ uppercut is particularly lethal, having accounted for Fabricio Werdum, and battered the likes of Mirko ‘Cro Cop’, Roy Nelson and Gabriel Gonzaga.
His footwork and use of angles to dominate the Octagon and control the fight has been phenomenal.
His stand-up strategy has been so good he hasn’t even been taken down. In fact in his eight UFC fights the only examples of his wrestling or jujitsu has been in taking down a fatigued Shane Carwin and battered Roy Nelson.
Coming up against Frank Mir, the original UFC heavyweight jiu-jitsu maestro, you can imagine this may be concerning.
Not according to Dos Santos, who brushes off suggestions Mir may expose him on the ground with his trademark smile.
His confidence is well established; Dos Santos actually began combat sport in jujitsu and then developed his much vaunted boxing skills.
He also trains in jiu jitsu with the legendary Nogeria brothers, middleweight submission ace Demian Maia, as well as a plethora of local Brazilian jiu jitsu experts.
His jiu-jitsu coach, Yuri Carlton, lays out some strong statements (translated here) on the Brazilian version of Dos Santos’ official website:
“I’ve got no doubt Cigano’s jiu-jitsu is better. He trains with the best in Brazil across numerous divisions.”
“Frank trains in American with some Brazilians but when you talk about jiu-jitsu, realistically Brazil is where the champions train.”
“This speculation that Frank is somehow better on the ground is all lies. I have absolute certainty Cigano is better.”
If these words are anything to go by then Dos Santos ground game may well be as lethal as his stand-up; a scary thought for anyone thinking of making a run for the heavyweight title.
This first title defence against Frank Mir will be a good litmus test for the new champion but it is one he should pass.
Mir is no slouch but his brawling stand up style will not serve him well here, he will have to hope Dos Santos confidence in his ground game is misplaced.
Junior Dos Santos isn’t the first heavyweight fighter who has looked like becoming the dominate fighter the division has never had.
If his arm is raised on Saturday night then an eventual rematch against Velasquez may well decide how long ‘Cigano’ lasts at the top.
However, if he continues to fight with the kind power and strategy he has shown, I cannot see anyone toppling Dos Santos of the top of the heavyweight pile.
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The Crowd Says (5) | Page 1 of Comments
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May 23rd 2012 @ 1:01pm
turbodewd said | May 23rd 2012 @ 1:01pm | Report comment
Sunday is going to be awesome. The all heavyweight card is going to rock.
JDS will beat Mir. JDS beat Carwin fairly easily and Carwin beat Mir fairly easily. Mir must concoct an amazing gameplan to rattle JDS. Mir buckled under the bulk and power of Lesnar and Carwin…will fighting a guy his own size actually make him more comfortable?! I doubt it…the speed of JDS strikes is the key here.
Now a Mir v Cain fight would be interesting and close. Im not sure Mir’s cardio matches Cain’s but it would be good to see.
Cain v Bigfoot will be another interesting bout.
Cait wait for sunday. F*** church, UFC is my new religion! :^)
May 23rd 2012 @ 1:34pm
E. Spencer Kyte said | May 23rd 2012 @ 1:34pm | Report comment
It’s crazy to me that the record for consecutive title defenses in the heavyweight division is two — Randy Couture (second HW title reign), Tim Sylvia, and Brock Lesnar.
“Cigano” has certainly looked dominant thus far, and has the explosive hands to potentially go on a lengthy run, but with that kind of history, and the new depth in the division, it’s going to be hard.
Great piece, Sam.
May 23rd 2012 @ 2:24pm
Sam Brown said | May 23rd 2012 @ 2:24pm | Report comment
It looked like Lesnar was going to be the man to cary it for a while after UFC100 and he may well have if he hadn’t been incapacitated for most of his reign with illness. He was a different fighter after he got sick, far less fearless and aggresive.
May 23rd 2012 @ 9:26pm
Damien said | May 23rd 2012 @ 9:26pm | Report comment
JDS has the stand up to beat Mir but I think he’s dreaming if he & his coach think that Mir poses no threat to them on the ground.
Mir was the first man to ever submit Big Nog and he did it in brutal fashion.
The Brazilians seem to have this belief that their BJJ is far superior than the Americans and technically that may be true but in MMA, the Brazialians don’t have it all their way. Sakuraba the Gracie Hunter proved that the Brazilians are not as good at BJJ at the very top level in MMA as they would have us believe.
Alan Belcher beat Rousimar Palhares at his own game and Palhares is meant to be a beast at the leg locks. Actually Palhares had Belcher in trouble several times but Belcher defended the subs well and them put a beatdown on him.
Big Nog had Mir in trouble early in their fight then he went for a submission. Mir defended the sub then switched it back to Nog and fininshed him off.
Ordinarily this would have been just a good sub but becasue it was Big Nog that got his arm broken shockwaves were felt in the Brazilian BJJ community because their BJJ top dog got done by an American at BJJ
There was talk that Big Nog made a split second mistake but my take was that Mir simply out played him on the ground. Big Nog went for a switch out left his arm exposed for a split second, Mir locks it up but that in itself wasn’t where the damage was done. The damge was done when Mir transtioned his body instantly to Big Nog’s other side before Big Nog could stop him. Thats where Big Nog could have defended it, but Mir was too quick for him and he payed the price.
Sorry for carrying on about that sub Sam but for me that was the best submission I’ve ever seen (I didn’t like the break though) because of who it involved and where these guys stand in the BJJ ladder. Seeing Twister’s and Gogo’s is cool but its normally not on guys with the standing of Big Nog.
JDS is a better overall fighter I believe but I’m going for Mir to sub him in the 3rd round..
May 23rd 2012 @ 11:04pm
Sam Brown said | May 23rd 2012 @ 11:04pm | Report comment
No worries about carrying on about the submission, it was a pretty amazing effort by Mir. I think it is strange the interview with JDS’s coach was only on the Portugese version of his site (I had to use my long dormant portugese skills to translate) it is like he was trying to hide it.
That said Dos Santos has never been one of those brash fighters who loudly declared his skills and if anyone was justified in talking about his standup superiority it is him.
Personally I don’t think he will need to show us his ground game though. Mir tends to try and brawl and against Dos Santos that just won’t cut it. He managed to stay up against Carwin, a much better wrestler than Mir so I don’t think Mir will be able to drag him down where he wants him.