Junior Dos Santos made history last weekend in not only stopping Cain Velasquez, but also becoming the first Brazilian to become the undisputed UFC Heavyweight Champion, and it’s sparked some debate already as to where he stands.
As far as Brazilians to hold the UFC Heavyweight belt, he probably stands pretty high, as he’s the only man to have won the title from that, but is it realistic to believe that he’s among the UFC’s greatest champions of all time from Brazil when he just won the belt over a week ago?
Anyone who knows me knows how I feel about the Black House/Team Nogueira/Nova Uniao triumvirate that has held or is holding a major MMA World title right now, and if you know your MMA, you know their history with promotional titles all too well.
To give a brief history lesson, Anderson Silva is the UFC Middleweight Champion, Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza only recently relinquished the Strikeforce Middleweight Championship to one Luke Rockhold, Bibiano “Flash” Fernandes held the DREAM Featherweight Title before a rematch with Hiroyuki Takaya, and Marlon Sandro relinquished his Sengoku Featherweight crown to UFC 144’s Hatsu Hioki.
In addition, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira has held UFC Interim Heavyweight and PRIDE Heavyweight gold, Antonio Silva held EliteXC’s Heavyweight crown, Patricio Freire is on his way to becoming Bellator Featherweight Champion with no preference to whether he gets Joe Warren or Pat Curran next, and UFC 142’s certain headliner Jose Aldo is UFC Featherweight Champion.
Dos Santos brings the Heavyweight gold back to Team Nogueira, technically, but a champion’s reign is one-half title win and one-half title streak, and as much as I like and respect the daylights out of JDS, we’re just not going to be able to rank him among Silva, Nogueira or Aldo, nor are we going to properly rank him with Vitor Belfort, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Murilo Bustamante, the legendary multiple-time UFC tournament winner Royce Gracie, or any other Brazilian that has held UFC gold or any UFC honors until we find out who he will face after UFC 141.
If Junior can turn back either Brock Lesnar or Alistair Overeem, and in impressive fashion, no less, then and only then can we find ourselves talking about where JDS ranks among the all-time best Brazilian UFC World Champions.
If his win over Velasquez was any indication, however, then fans of the sport might find themselves seeing Dos Santos’ name among some of the greatest Brazilian champions in the UFC, but Junior can rest assured that the UFC Heavyweight belt is not one that’s easy to hold on to.
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