Former heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos doesn’t like his future opponent’s, Tai Tuivasa, approach to MMA.
Former UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos has a personal reason for wanting to defeat Tai Tuivasa when the two men meet in Adelaide, Australia, in December. It’s a reason that goes back to UFC 225, when Bruce Buffer introduced the Aussie as a representative of ‘street fighting’ for his fight against another former UFC champ, Andrei Arlovski.
For Dos Santos, it’s a label that goes against what he believes MMA stands for and should represent. In an interview for Sporting News, the Brazilian called his next opponent a coward for behaving this way.
“In his last fight, with Arlovski, when Bruce Buffer was introducing him, he said he represents street fighting,” dos Santos told Sporting News. “I was watching the fight last night, and saw that and was like, ‘What?! That’s not even a martial art.’ I thought I was fighting against a martial artist, but that’s not the case. I want to know more about this, and one day I’ll ask him.
”To represent street fighting, that’s just stupid. Who fights in the streets? It’s not even fair. That’s a coward. Street fighting is not a martial art – it doesn’t exist. How can someone represent street fighting –- that’s bullshit.”
In the former champion’s opinion, Tuivasa is disrespecting MMA and, ‘Cigano’ says, if the Australian truly fights like a street fighter, he’ll be in for a rude awakening when they meet in the center of the Octagon.
“Everyone, all the gyms around the world, are fighting against that – against this kind of stupid thing, this coward thing,” dos Santos explained. “It doesn’t exist. You’re not a street fighter, you’re a coward. These people who fight in the streets don’t really know how to fight. Come to a real gym, face a real fighter and you’ll get your ass kicked. And if this guy, Tai Tuivasa, is really a street fighter, that’s what he’s going to have – he’s going to have his ass kicked by me on December 2nd in Adelaide.”
Junior dos Santos is expected to take on Tai Tuivasa at UFC Fight Night 142’s main event, on December 2. Also penciled in for the card is a heavyweight contest between Mark Hunt & Justin Willis, as well as a light heavyweight bout between Shogun Rua & Tyson Pedro. Stay tuned to Bloody Elbow for more news and updates as the night approaches.