Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Heavyweight kingpin, Junior dos Santos, looks to earn another shot at gold by dispatching fellow knockout artist, Francis Ngannou, this Saturday (June 29, 2019) at UFC on ESPN 3 from inside Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Dos Santos’ last title shot was rushed. He looked good against Ben Rothwell, sure, but the Brazilian has lost two of his last four and was given the opportunity thanks to an older win against Stipe Miocic and a lack of contenders. Miocic flattened “JDS” quickly, and that seemed to be the end of dos Santos’ title hopes. Instead, “Cigano” has made minor improvements to large results. He ended Ivanov’s lengthy win streak, handed Tuivasa his first professional loss, and blasted Derrick Lewis with relative ease. It’s already a very legitimate win streak, and dos Santos’ will look to cement his latest shot at gold by knocking off the most dangerous Heavyweight on the planet.
Let’s take a closer look at his skill set:
Striking
Dos Santos’ success and struggles on the feet are relatively simple. On the plus side, dos Santos is quick and fights long, setting up power shots far better than most of his peers and able to maintain a good pace late into the fight. Unfortunately, dos Santos has never quite figured out lateral movement, finding himself placed on the fence and battered on a few occasions.
Quickness and a long jab will carry any fighter far. For dos Santos, success begins with the jab, often to the body in his case. Aside from being very useful to draw his opponent’s hands lower and set up his power shots, it’s dos Santos’ range finder. The body jab lets him know just how far away his opponent is, as well as providing a nice barrier to negate forward movement.
In general, dos Santos commits more to body work than most Heavyweights. While dos Santos has yet to stop an opponent directly with a body shot — he came close with a spinning back kick against Lewis — very often his body shots set up his overhand, which is the subject of this week’s technique highlight.
In dos Santos’ somewhat recent win opposite Ben Rothwell, dos Santos’ jab was incredibly important regardless of whether it was going to the head or body. Rothwell’s bizarrely square stance left him largely powerless to avoid the strike, which halted many of his trademark blitzes. As his foe pushed forward, dos Santos would either take small steps back and stab at him or plant his feet and stop Rothwell in his tracks (GIF).
Before long, Rothwell’s face was cut and bloodied from the jab. Once that happened, dos Santos’ set ups and feints worked wonderfully. Each time he showed a hint of a jab, Rothwell was forced to react, either freezing in place or reaching for the punch. Either way, dos Santos could time his favorite overhand (GIF) or slip a left hook around the guard. Alternatively, dos Santos could feint, freeze his foe, and circle away from the cage.
Dos Santos is very dangerous on the counter. He’s usually adept at holding his foe at range with those long jabs and straights to the body, but he’ll often go on the aggressive if his opponent works past that distance. The left hook is key here, as he’ll slip down and fire back the hard counter punch (GIF).
In his last bout with Tai Tuivasa, the Aussie’s insane pressure often saw dos Santos pushed into his vulnerable position along the fence. However, “JDS” did a better, if imperfect, job of keeping his defense high when hitting the fence and — perhaps more important — swinging back. As Tuivasa slowed, dos Santos’ back stepping punches landed with more consistency and eventually dropped him (GIF).
Kicking has been more of a focus for dos Santos as of late. The Brazilian has always been able to bring his shin or heel to target with surprising quickness, such as his wheel kick KO of Mark Hunt (GIF). However, it’s a skill that’s been underutilized — why wouldn’t a rangy boxer who can kick hard actually throw the kicks?
Luckily, the coaches of American Top Team seems to be changing that. Against Derrick Lewis in particular, “JDS” was wary of Lewis’ wild haymakers for good reason. Rather than step into the pocket, dos Santos feinted the jab a lot, getting Lewis to pause before ripping into his calf several times. Later, dos Santos suddenly spun into a hard back to the mid-section, one that folded Lewis over and really began the finish.
Dos Santos’ issue — the reason for nearly all of his losses — has always been an inability to circle. Cain Velasquez forced this issue by diving into takedowns and getting dos Santos to the fence, but Miocic was able to find the same result with simple offensive pressure. “JDS” has long been a fighter who moves forward and back on a straight line, simply moving away until his opponent stops punching.
If they don’t stop, he hits the fence and his hands tend to drop.
Wrestling
Despite the losses to Velasquez, getting taken down and held down has never really been dos Santos’ weakness. He was and is a very hard man to control on the mat.
It’s pretty rare for dos Santos to look for the takedown on his own, but that part of his game is effective. It relies in large part on his athleticism, which is well above average compared to most Heavyweights. Dos Santos does a nice job quickly changing levels and driving through his opponent for a strong blast double leg.
Defensively, “JDS” remains among the division’s best. His sprawl is very powerful, and his balance is more than enough to avoid most single legs. Plus, dos Santos’ boxing is usually rangy enough to give him time to react to his opponent’s shots. Even in Velasquez’s pair of victories over the Brazilian, dos Santos was able to stuff a majority of Velasquez’s shots. In particular, dos Santos is excellent at springing back to his feet. After his opponent completes a takedown, dos Santos immediately turns away and stands. As he does this, he moves his hips out and fights the hands, which usually breaks his foe’s grip. It’s a risky tactic, but dos Santos is quick enough to get away without giving up his back.
While dos Santos does a very nice job of defending takedowns against the fence, he’s too content to work with his back to the cage. This flaw ties in with the issues in his striking defense, as dos Santos doesn’t show the urgency or technique needed to get out of such a terrible position. Even when dos Santos does pummel for an underhook and circle away, he often does so with his hands carried low, leaving him in a very vulnerable position.
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Despite owning a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, dos Santos is rarely grappling inside the Octagon. Generally, he’s either knocking out his opponents in violent fashion or trading along the fence, neither of which create many submission opportunities.
That said, dos Santos has demonstrated some skill in passing the guard, and he’s not bad defensively. Even after getting dropped badly by Velasquez, dos Santos managed to prevent or quickly escape many dominant positions and work back to his feet, as well as escaping an arm bar from his opponent.
Conclusion
Despite his wealth of high-level experience, dos Santos remains just 35 years of age, only three years older than his opponent. While the abuse “JDS” has endured inside the cage is just as important and generally a more relevant bit of information, Heavyweight is the division for late-career surges. Dos Santos is still making adjustments, and the right level of experience can make all the difference when it only takes one punch from either man to end the fight.
Andrew Richardson, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu brown belt, is a professional fighter who trains at Team Alpha Male in Sacramento, California. In addition to learning alongside world-class talent, Andrew has scouted opponents and developed winning strategies for several of the sport’s most elite fighters.