Dos Santos training at ATT for Overeem bout, says he'd KO Werdum again

Junior dos Santos is undoubtedly one of the top heavyweights in the world, but two losses to Cain Velasquez left him in purgatory in the division. With the UFC heavyweight title changing hands earlier this year, it opened up some new opportunities for the Brazilan former champ - especially since the current champ is someone he has defeated before.

For now though, JDS will take on rival Alistair Overeem at UFC on Fox 17. This is the third time they've been matched up for a bout, but it has yet to come together. To prepare for Overeem, Dos Santos told MMA Fighting that  he has moved his camp to the United States for the first time. He will be training at American Top Team in Florida:

"I will be here in Miami my entire camp. I came here before to visit the team and they all treated me really well, ‘Conan' (Marcus Silveira), Dan Lambert, Ricardo Liborio. I was happy with the way they treated and welcomed me, so I decided to do my camp here. I'm enjoying it, and training has been great.

"I'm glad I spent some time working at Nova Uniao, especially with professor ‘Dede' (Andre Pederneiras). He's an amazing person and I will be forever thankful," he continued. "But I decided to come to ATT because I have more heavyweights to train here, and more light-heavyweights too -- I like to work with light-heavyweights because they are faster, so I can work on my speed. And everything is easier here in America."

He also stated that he was hoping for a rematch with current champ Fabricio Werdum, but the UFC decided to go with an immediate rematch between Werdum and Velasquez (which won't happen until at least March of 2016). He believes that despite Werdum's improvements, a second bout between himself and Werdum would go the same way as the first one did - with a JDS knockout win:

"I was hoping to fight for the title now in a rematch against Werdum," he said. "He did well against Velasquez, and I think it was maybe the only opportunity to make this rematch happen in a good moment. He's 38, and I think it was the perfect moment for a rematch. But it's up to the UFC and we have other fights booked already. I have Alistair Overeem in front of me and that's what I'm thinking. That's what matters to me right now."

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"I have to be confident," said the former champion. "I'm faster than him, I have better striking abilities. He's better now, professor Rafael Cordeiro improved his Muay Thai, but improving your Muay Thai is different than having striking as your main martial art. I've done this my entire life. I can create more opportunities standing.

"If the fight goes to the ground, he's the favorite. But I see myself beating him again, and by knockout. First or second-round knockout."