UFC on Versus Preview: Junior Dos Santos - "My Ground Is Good"
by Nick Thomas on Mar 15, 2010 11:02 AM EDT
in MMA News
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Junior "Cigano" dos Santos talks to ufc.com:
"[Rogerio 'Minotouro'] He's my master and he taught me everything. If I face and beat great athletes nowadays, this is because Rodrigo supported me. ... I'd probably not have become a fighter or my career would be on a different course than it is today if I didn't have Rodrigo and Rogerio helping me."
vs. Fabricio Werdum - When Bruce Buffer said my name and I do my pre-fight ritual of pointing to the ground, Werdum came in my direction, punching his hand, and said, 'You gonna take a beatdown.' Nobody saw it. He did that and I said, 'So come on,' and walked back to my corner furious, but with a smile on my face. And I felt that when the approach is this way I fight better."
vs. Stefan Struve - He extended his hand, I didn't tap it. (laughs) Later we'll chat, now is time to trade punches. He's a nice guy, dangerous on the ground, however I wasn't not going to be his friend inside the Octagon (laughs). Let's fight and become friends only after the fight.
vs. Mirko Cro Cop - Fabio Maldonado told me, 'Cigano, when you look into the eyes of your opponent, he'll not reach you. You're fast, strong, let him know that you're better.' I believed in what he said and I go to knock guys out in all my fights; maybe I can't always do it, but it's my goal."
vs. Gilbert Yvel - "People called me arrogant during that fight because I smiled when he landed that high kick. But that was because we trained to defend exactly that combo, a straight and a high kick. I recorded it and he tried it during the fight, so I smiled because his game was just the way we knew it would be, and I asked for more."
"I think my ground is good if you want to know," said dos Santos. "I train with great guys in the USA too and I'm always learning. This fight is going to be a test for me; I have a chance to surprise people because I believe [Gabriel Gonzaga] Napao will try to take me down. There are positions that I developed in secret and if I've the chance I won't waste them."
Full interview at ufc.com.
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JdS just may be the next great thing in UFC's HW division
This fight may force him to show what he’s got on the ground… And if he does got it, watch out HWs!! Dude may have the 5-tools of MmA. (Striking, grabbling, wrestling, BJJ and defense)
lol at grabbling
sounds better than grappling. no doubt, if this fight hits the deck we’ll see what he’s made of.
Fedor with a gun... ULTIMATE DANGER!!!
by Spinning Fat Kick on Mar 15, 2010 12:10 PM EDT up reply actions
Striking – he has in spades.
Grappling – he has yet to show any significant skill.
Wrestling – he has yet to show any significant skill.
BJJ – he has yet to show in a fight but he trains with some of the best.
Defense – in what respect do you mean? Striking Defense? Takedown defense? overall?
Not trying to downplay JDS, he is certainly a major threat in the HW division, but lets not get all giddy and star eyed yet.
Agreed.
We need to see his ground game nd we have seen none. He may be the divisions striker,but the rest is question marks. Kongo looked like a force until takedowns became a factor. JDS should have the better ground game, but Gonzaga is no joke if he gets the fight there.
yvel is a can
I agree he is a great fighter, but his last fight against yvel wasnt much of a test, the dude is a can, and i knew he wouldnt be able to match ciganos crisp boxing, yvel is a little flashy, but he doesnt have the fundementals of cigano. I think after a few more beatdowns, dana will cut that sorry loser YVEL. i think josh barnett must have given him brain damage, with that horrific beating he gave him on the ground.
"People called me arrogant"
. . . because people are experts on fighters’ behavior inside the ring and most fans are expert analyst especially when it comes to comments from foreign fighters from different cultural backgrounds. I’ve heard people say Machida was becoming arrogant.
Sigh.
"There's nothing cool about taking punishment" - Floyd Mayweather Jr.
by VeeisAnimated on Mar 15, 2010 11:39 AM EDT reply actions 1 recs
"He can't defend my style. No one can!"
Lyoto does have a bit of arrogance. It may be both healthy and deserved, but lets not act like he’s the most modest guy to walk the earth.
"Someone is WRONG on the internet. What do you want me to do? LEAVE? Then they'll keep being wrong!"
-Randall Munroe
. . . and 75% of the fighters haven’t made boastful claims.
"There's nothing cool about taking punishment" - Floyd Mayweather Jr.
by VeeisAnimated on Mar 15, 2010 3:11 PM EDT up reply actions
No it won’t. He’s fought since he lost to Carwin.
by Worldisart on Mar 15, 2010 12:03 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
yes
and he won via testicle obliteration in the first round
Fedor with a gun... ULTIMATE DANGER!!!
by Spinning Fat Kick on Mar 15, 2010 12:08 PM EDT up reply actions
I agree; he has to decide which round he wants to KO Gonzaga.
by Ephemeral Artery on Mar 15, 2010 12:08 PM EDT up reply actions 8 recs
lol
This one ain’t seeing the 2nd round IMO.
Gonzaga has an awesome skill set, but the light switch has become too easy to find.
Throw Heath Herring’s chin on this guy and he would be really really tough to beat. Gonzaga and Arlovski are two fighters with imense skill sets, but both lack the chin to carry them to the topn and keep them there.
He’s been KO’ed once. By Carwin. That constitutes weak chin?
by dancingChicken on Mar 15, 2010 1:21 PM EDT up reply actions
He has been dropped a number of times though. He has one KO loss and 3 TKO losses.
All four of his losses have come by way of strikes and Werdum has punched him out (although not out cold) twice.
You forgot to add that in the first fight with Werdum he gassed (they both did), took something like 4 knees to the face, few hooks and still wasn’t out cold.
In second fight he gassed badly, ate few knees to the face, suffered GnP and still wasn’t out. In fight with Randy he got slammed with Randy’s head and wasn’t out cold, he still fought, but got GnP’ed. I don’t know how can you infer that he has weak chin. Everyone who has lost due to TKO has weak chin?
by dancingChicken on Mar 15, 2010 2:17 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Yeah, I’d never really heard question of his chin before. I’d heard plenty of question of his heart and/or his focus under pressure, but he can take a shot.
The problem with Carwin fighting Mir is that all the promos are showing the Gonzaga KO again and again and again…
"I'm AJB and I endorse this nut-puncher."
That replay aside, when Gonzaga gets hit he breaks.
Call it “heart and/or his focus under pressure” if he gets hit hard he seems to lose his fight IQ and the fight is generally over in short order.
He has only lost three fights. And he fought with a broken nose against Randy for a couple rounds.
The man known simply as "Christmas Cheesesteak"
werdum x2, randy, carwin
I'm like PacMan fightin you silly kids... throw ya Hatton the ring, and get knocked outlike Ricky did.
lol.
werdum also smashed gonzaga
didnt werdum also give gonzaga a horrific beating on his feet, kicking him all over the place. If he cant beat werdum, a fighter JDS knocked out in 10 seconds, how is he going to beat JDS
Are you referring to their fist fight which was 7 years ago, or to the second which was opposite to what you’ve said?
by dancingChicken on Mar 15, 2010 4:43 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
"He’s been KO’ed once. By Carwin."
I agree…in my opinion, he had Carwin seriously rocked, but when they came off the cage GG started back in with his hands at his waist…IMO if he had been a bit more patient and kept his hands up, totally different outcome
Coulda been. I am not trying to discredit his striking.
Gonzaga’s striking has improved greatly from the early days and he is quite a potent strikr at this point… Well… Until he gets hit anyways.
It will be really interesting to see where JDS' ground game is at.
He may be the best striker in the HW division, but the rest of the top ranked guys have solid ground games. Gonzaga and Mir could test him with submissions and Velasquez, Carwin and Lesnar all have explosive takedowns. We haven’t seen how JDS handles any of that.
You can bet all the top level guys will take him to the ground if they can. He has shown the damage he can do on his feet.
I hope he finishes gonzaga quick, so he can be fresh and maybe take on Cain for the next shot at the title. He can “avenge his master’s loss”
by MikeD32 on Mar 15, 2010 1:42 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
From some of the talk I have been hearing, Mir may not press for the fight with Lesnar if he wins.
He said he would be okay with Velaquez getting a shot first. I think the UFc would probably benefit from building towards the third Mir / Lesnar fight anyways. Lesnar vs anybody will sell, they might as well throw cain in there first.
Mir said he wouldn’t mind Cain jumping ahead if he was injured in the fight with Carwin
I'm the best ever. You're the most average in a minute.
And NEW UFC Welterweight Champion of the World.....Dan "The Outlaw" Hardy!
by slapjaw ackrite on Mar 15, 2010 8:42 PM EDT up reply actions
Agreed.
A true #1 contender would emerge, and the loser would still be just a win or two away from a belt shot. It would keep the upper roster active across the board and create a good line-up for belt shots.
even if it didn't have title implications
It would one of the most appealing fights the UFC could put on. Hard to imagine that fight failing to deliver.
Tatum: I think he's a good man. I like him. I got nothing against him, but I'm definitely gonna make orphans of his children.
Am I the only one troubled by JDS’s relatively weak stand-up defense? An aging and not-all-that motivated CroCop did damage to him. And it isn’t like he can use wrestling to recover if he gets tagged – like Brock did against Mir, or Cane against Congo.
He has a good chin, I guess. But that’s not what you want to see heavy weights relying on. Particularly if they don’t have wrestling to fall back on.
I don’t really remember Cro-Cop damaging him tbh. Unless you’re talking about the damage he did to JDS’ feelings by all the two-handed shoves he delivered. That was just hurtful.
Heh!
Maybe “damaging” is too strong a word. But JDS definitely left himself wide open for counter-striking etc. If someone less faded than Mirko capitalized on that & rocks JDS (easy to do if you are 250lbs+ and wearing 4 oz gloves!), then where does JDS go? He can’t rely on wrestling, and unless his Jiu-Jitsu is phenomenally improved, he won’t be able to pull guard, or get a submission from out of the blue ala Big Nog.
Don’t get me wrong, JDS is a great prospect, and easily 10 ten HW.
I have to take issue with some of this
We don’t really know what JDS’ wrestling or jits is like because he hasn’t needed to use it. Each of his UFC fights has stayed where he wants it,a nd while that’s not necessarily because he couldn’t be taken down, it’s still a valid point that no one has taken him down. I expect Napao to be able to get the fight to the ground, and if he’s fighting his best fight, that’s what he should attempt to do.
We’ll possibly get to see how good Cigano’s takedown defense and/or BJJ are in this fight. And if he KOs Napao before that, it would make for 5 fights finished on the feet without getting taken down. Although not traditional takedown D, it’s still pretty effective to KO your opponent before they try to get you down…
I agree that we haven’t seen his BJJ in the UFC. But pre-UFC his BJJ looked dreadful. I understand that he has improved, but realistically, he isn’t near Nog (or even Mir) level.
And his wrestling? Not gonna be as good as Lesnar, Carwin, Cain.
My point was more that if standup is his bread & butter, he needs (IMO) to tighten up his standup defense, or a least find a viable way of recovering if he ever gets rocked. After all, in the HW division, it only takes one shot.
I get what you’re saying, but Nogueira and Mir are two of the best HW BJJ practitioners in MMA history. And Lesnar and Velazquez are both very dominant wrestlers that JDS may never be able to approach in terms of wrestling ability.
But he doesn’t need to have the best jits or wrestling. He just needs to be competent. Like you said, it stands to reason his BJJ and wrestling have improved training with the fighters at Black House. He could stand to improve in many ways, but that’s every fighter out there.
I guess my main point is that, even though he’s not likely going to be able to shrug off a Lesnar takedown if Brock gets a hold of him, or survive being on bottom against Mir for a few minutes, if he continues to rock the hell out of guys before they can get a hold of him, he’ll continue to be a force. In the mean time, he can keep training and improving.
It isn't like Chuck Liddell ever had the best BJJ or wrestling in his division.
Same could be said about Anderson Silva
your an idiot
JDS is easily a top 5 fighter, only damage cro-cop di was crying on him after his beatdown, that was a one sided beatdown, if i ever saw one
Did you read what I wrote? Did you read what you wrote? Evidently not.
Three things:
- JDS has beaten 1 top ten HW, just 1. He isn’t “easily” top-5 just yet.
- JDS left himself wide open to being countered. 1-sided? Maybe. But hardly a perfect performance. Re-watch the fight.
- Before you start insulting people, proofread what you write, jackass.
That's a bit much
The guy had some valid points; I personally think JDS’ stand-up is good enough to overcome some of the holes in his game, but he doesn’t exactly have the best stand-up in the game.
I’m not sure if he’s “easily top 5,” but he’s right there. If/When he beats Napao by stoppage, he’ll definitely be putting himself at the front of the line for a title shot. And that makes me happy. JDS vs. Cain or JDS vs. Carwin are a couple of really exciting fights. And if they were to give him Mir…I think he’d drop Mir, which I would enjoy very much.
Cro Cop rocked him once (not much though) and landed few counters that cut him.
by dancingChicken on Mar 15, 2010 2:00 PM EDT up reply actions
Another interesting fight on the Greatest Free Card Ever -- EVER!
I had to think long and hard as to whether I wanted to put JDS or Fedor on my signature. In the end, there’s no other HW I want to see fight right now than Fedor.
Faber, Florian, Nick Diaz, 'Mayhem', Mousasi, Fedor
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