Junior Dos Santos is an active MMA fighter from Brazil, UFC heavyweight champion from November 2011 to December 2012. In addition, Junior Dos Santos has a black jujitsu belt.
early years
The birthplace of Junior Dos Santos is the Brazilian city of Casador, date of birth - January 30, 1984. Junior was brought up by a single mother. My father suffered from alcoholism and left the family in the mid-nineties.
As a teenager, Dos Santos studied capoeira, and when he was 21 years old, he began to practice jiu-jitsu under the guidance of the famous Brazilian coach Luis Carlos Dorea. In parallel, he worked on improving his shock technique, which allowed him to become a promising MMA fighter.
In July 2006, he held his first professional MMA duel. At first, he fought for small fees in his homeland - in organizations such as Demo Fight and XFC Brazil.
Career at UFC
The first serious battle in the United States, Dos Santos held on October 5, 2008. At UFC 90, he entered the octagon against compatriot Fabriceu Werdum. This fight was successful for Dos Santos - Werdum was defeated by technical knockout.
At UFC 95, Dos Santos met with the Dutchman Stefan Struve and quickly won - for this he took less than a minute.
One of the brightest fights in the biography of Junior Dos Santos is considered to be a fight with Croatian athlete Mirko Filipovic on UFC 103. For the first two rounds, Santos had a clear advantage over Filipovic, periodically entering a hard clinch and stabbing him with his knees. In the third round, the dominance of Dos Santos continued. And at some point Mirko decided not to continue the fight, citing an eye injury.
On January 2, 2010 at UFC 108, Gilbert Yvel became the new Dos Santos rival. Toward the close of the first round, Dos Santos was able to break through Gilbert's defense, and he was on the floor. After that, a series of finishing blows hit Ivela, and as a result the fight was stopped.
In the same 2010, Santos celebrated victory twice more - in battles with Gabriel Gonzaga and Roy Nelson.
The year 2011 was also successful for Dos Santos. In June 2011, he took part in the battle for the status of a contender for the UFC champion belt in the heavy weight category. His opponent here was Shane Carvin. And at the end of all three rounds of this fight, the judges unanimously decided that Dos Santos was stronger.
In the championship fight, held in November 2011, he met with American Kane Velazquez. And already in the second minute (which came as a surprise to many), Dos Santos knocked out Velazquez.
Champion Dos Santos remained a little over a year. In late December 2012, a rematch took place between him and Kane Velazquez. And in this five-round championship match, Velazquez looked more prepared. Once during the fight he even managed to send Dos Santos to the knockdown. Ultimately, it was Velasquez who won the victory, the Brazilian fighter had to return the championship belt.
In October 2013, Velazquez and Dos Santos met for the third time to identify the strongest in their weight category. And in this battle, Velazquez celebrated victory again.
In the next five years, Dos Santos had several more brilliant battles: on December 13, 2014 he defeated Stipe Miocic, in April 2016 - Ben Rothwell, in July 2018 - Bulgarian Blagoia Ivanova, in December 2018 - Australian Taya Tuivasu.
The fighting career of Dos Santos under the auspices of the UFC continues to this day. In March 2019, he fought with the American Derrick Lewis (this fight ended with the victory of Dos Santos), and in June 2019 with the Frenchman Francis Ngannu (the Brazilian lost this fight).
To date, Dos Santos has won 21 victories and 6 defeats as an MMA fighter.
