Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Heavyweight sluggers Junior dos Santos and Blagoy Ivanov clashed last night (July 14, 2018) at UFC Fight Night 133 inside CenturyLink Arena in Boise, Idaho.
It’s been a tough year for dos Santos — a brutal title loss and bullshit USADA suspension both sting in different ways. All that time without wins didn’t cost “JDS” much in terms of sliding down the rankings — not many are climbing up to replace him — but “Cigano” nevertheless had to remind his fellow Heavyweights of his talent.
Ivanov, on the other hand, was making his UFC debut and still something of an unknown to many fans. The decorated Sambo specialist was the longtime World Series of Fighting (WSOF) kingpin and clearly had potential, resulting in an immediate big opportunity opposite the Brazilian.
It didn’t take long for Ivanov to back into the fence at which point dos Santos aimed for the mid-section. “JDS” also began kicking actively while his foe looked to counter. The Bulgarian landed a couple nice right hand counters that gave his opponent pause. On the whole though, the two exchanged at a pretty slow rate, but dos Santos longer range allowed him to land a bit more often.
By the end of the round, dos Santos was landing the better shots and controlling the center, but neither man had fully opened up.
Dos Santos opened up with his kicks a bit more to open the second, including a front snap kick and attempted wheel kick. In addition, dos Santos’ fast jab began to land on the head, not just the mid-section. By the halfway point in the round, the Brazilian was landing very consistently. Having found his range, “JDS” repeatedly dug to the body with straight punches, occasionally aiming for the chin with a big overhand. It wasn’t landing fully just yet, but dos Santos was soundly picking apart his foe.
By the end of the round, Ivanov was bleeding quite a bit and looking a little lost.
Ivanov opened the third round with an increased number of lunging left hands, which was a smart call even if they didn’t land all that well. Moments later, “JDS” stunned his opponent a bit with a right hand and attempted to swarm before being backed off by some nice counters from the Bulgarian. With two minutes remaining, Ivanov finally began scoring with his looping hooks, a couple of which seemed to wobble the Brazilian a bit. Afterward, though, dos Santos went right back to moving well and picking off his counter hooks.
The third was probably the closest round of the fight, and it still leaned towards “JDS.”
The fourth round generally continued along a similar path. Ivanov had long since abandoned his sit-on-the-fence-and-wait strategy — which was for the best — instead choosing to randomly lunge forward with a looping punch or two. They landed occasionally but mostly came up short. All the while, dos Santos danced around and popped him with jabs, occasionally planting more to land at a much higher pace.
The Bulgarian needed a knockout with five minutes remaining.
Unfortunately for “Blaga,” it didn’t work out that way. In the fifth, the most major development was dos Santos recommitting to the body kick, which ripped into his opponent’s side. Just after, dos Santos scored a big right hand that put Ivanov on his heels. For the rest of the round, dos Santos mostly circled the Octagon and jabbed, happy to take home a clear-cut decision victory.
This was largely Junior dos Santos vs. Ben Rothwell 2. Against a big man who favored loopy punch and flurries, dos Santos used quick feet and sharp body shots to deter the charge. In this fight, dos Santos did a much better job of working with kicks. Ivanov had a shorter range than the Brazilian, and dos Santos took advantage by pounding his mid-section with front and round kicks. Once dos Santos had established the body shot, everything worked wonderfully. Ivanov was forced to react to the slightest dip in posture from the Brazilian, and it also forced the Bulgarian to slow significantly.
On a negative note, “JDS” still has a bizarre tendency to back himself into the fence and drop his hands, even occasionally looking away from his opponent while still in range.
As for Ivanov, this is largely what I expected from the Bulgarian. In the WSOF, he found much more success at countering sloppy rushes, but “JDS” knows how to strike from range without falling forward face-first. After that strategy failed, Ivanov was left with little more than toughness and a winging left hand.
Credit to him for trying, but that’s not enough at the highest level of the UFC.
Last night, Junior dos Santos returned to form and picked his opponent apart. Is a rubber match with Stipe Miocic next?
For complete UFC Fight Night 133 “Dos Santos vs. Ivanov” results and play-by-play, click HERE!