Former heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos is unhappy with how the UFC handled his last loss,
Former UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos would like to see a little more initiative from their superiors regarding his last outing.
After losing via TKO to Ciryl Gane in a fight ‘Cigano’ believes was determined by an illegal shot, the Brazilian expected the promotion to take action about the outcome, which never happened.
Even though Junior firmly believes Gane finished their fight with an illegal elbow to the back of the head, he was surprised to learn that the UFC will not do much about the situation. In an interview with Ag Fight, Cigano expressed his disgust and anger towards the manner in which the promotion handled his case.
“The UFC never said a word,” dos Santos said. “It’s fine by them. I find that absurd. A clearly illegal shot and the president and a bunch of fighters think that what happened was acceptable. Actually, everyone agrees that it was illegal, but they said I turned around and positioned myself that way. To make a comparison, which I don’t even think I should, that’s like blaming the victim for a crime of theft, murder, or rape. I don’t think it was intentional, but that doesn’t make it any less illegal. They said I turned around. I didn’t. I was already standing sideways for about eight seconds and you can see the elbow hit the back of my head from there.
“I think they’re trying to make this blow over because of the negative point I currently am in my career,” Cigano continued. “I was coming off three losses and he is a guy on the rise, undefeated. Maybe they want to capitalize on that. I don’t know and I don’t care. I just want justice to be made.”
Despite his current bad streak of four consecutive knockout losses, dos Santostries to look at the bright side. After a rather negative year of 2020, in which he suffered three defeats, Junior expects to turn it around in 2021 and silence his doubters.
“Professionally, it’s has been rather heavy moment in my career,” he said. “This is a tough sport and you need to be psychologically healthy in order to give your best. I feel great physically, but I feel like my psychological side has been affected. You have to tear down so many walls that it takes a toll. I’ve been dedicating myself to put my mind in the right place. I love to fight, I want to go on, I’m one of the best heavyweights to ever do it. It hasn’t been happening for me in the Octagon lately. I just need to make some adjustments and that’s what I’m trying to do.”
“This year of 2021, I’ll shut up a lot of mouths. What gets me are people who say they understand fighting going against me for this moment, like everything is fine. This year will be to shut up this kind of thing. It’s the year to lap them in the face, to silence everyone who doubts me. I’ll turn it all around. It’s the year to make adjustments and make it happen.”
Junior dos Santos (21-9) has lost to Francis Ngannou, Curtis Blaydes, Jairzinho Rozenstruik and Ciryl Gane over his past four fights. His most recent win happened in March 2019, when he TKO’d Derrick Lewis at UFC Fight Night 146.