Less than a month removed from his 64-second decimation of Cain Velasquez at UFC on Fox 1, Junior “Cigano” Dos Santos is now basking in the glory of the heavyweight division’s holy grail—UFC gold.
Nonetheless, speaking to Graciemag.com, Cigano (14-1) cites his first loss as the catalyst to his rise to the top of the MMA world.
Prior to his one and only defeat, Cigano was riding a five-fight win streak—two via (which included a win over Joaquim “Mamute” Ferreira) submission and three by way of TKO/KO.
In his sixth professional bout, however, in a rematch against Ferreira, he was submitted via armbar in 73 seconds of the first round.
That was the night he had his “Road to Damascus” moment—in one fell swoop his career was to change as well as his inner psyche with regards to MMA in general.
[…] “After my defeat (against Joaquim Mamute), I became a totally different fighter”, he admits. “That submission freed me of the responsibility of being undefeated, and I stopped being afraid there. I had no fear in my next challenges”, he says.
After that defeat, Cigano went on a tear—destroying almost everything in his path.
Fabricio “Vai Cavalo” Werdum was the first to feel his wrath, Stefan “Skyscraper” Struve, Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipović, Gilbert “The Hurricane” Yvel and Gabriel “Napão” Gonzaga all fell.
Cigano also won unanimous decisions over both Roy “Big Country” Nelson and Shane Carwin, the latter culminating in his eventual showdown with Velasquez.
Needless to say, the Velasquez fight was the other turning point in his career and his most defining moment to date—becoming the 16th fighter in UFC history to attain the heavyweight title.
For the 27-year-old Cigano, the impact of defeating Velasquez and achieving his goal was a dream come true and, at the same time, implausible.
“It took me some time to believe it. And when I saw Velasquez falling, I couldn’t believe it, you can notice it took me a while to go after him,” said Junior Dos Santos.
A word of warning to the heavyweight hitters of the division—Cigano has somewhat of a slight penchant for getting struck in the face, and for good reason.
“I get hit in the face and don’t get upset because I have years of boxing training. A good fighter knows how to take a hit. I think in my case to be punched on the face works to make me more alert.”
At present, the new champ is nursing a knee injury, but should make his return to the Octagon sometime in 2012 against the winner of the UFC 141 event that will be contested by Brock Lesnar and Alistair “The Reem” Overeem.
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