UFC heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos has had to deal with a change of opponents within five weeks of his UFC 146 title defense. We all know why by now - Alistair Overeem didn't pass a pre-fight drug test and cannot get licensed by the Nevada State Athletic Commission, so Frank Mir is taking his spot. The same Frank Mir that broke Cigano mentor Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira's arm in December. In an interview with Sergio Non of USA Today, JDS talked about whether revenge would play a part in the bout (spoiler - it won't), gave his thoughts on Mir saying he's better in certain areas, and much more. First up, the revenge angle -
"People want to talk about the storyline of revenge or things like that. That's a non-issue for me. That's not why I'm there."
"For us who know Minotauro, it was really sad to see that. But that has absolutely no bearing on my fight against Frank Mir. I fight because I am a fighter. What I'm there to defend is my belt, is my title. I fight because of my own determination, my desire to win."
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When Non mentioned Mir's recent statements about being faster and hitting harder than Dos Santos, JDS was very blunt with his response:
Frank Mir is dangerous. He's a fighter that needs to be taken seriously. But he's also a fighter that talks too much. His style of promoting fights is to just talk a lot.
He previously said that he was faster than me. That's only in his dreams.
Of course, he isn't faster than me. I'm faster. For sure I hit harder. And if the fight goes to rounds three or four or five, for sure I take the advantage.
Dos Santos also goes into much more detail about the matchup with Mir, and gives his opinion about Alistair Overeem's inability to get licensed for their scheduled bout. The whole interview is definitely worth checking out, which you can do here.
SBN coverage of UFC 146: Dos Santos vs. Mir