UFC 131 Will See Junior dos Santos Challenge Shane Carwin, Will The Change Be To Cigano’s Advantage?
Junior dos Santos spent weeks getting ready for a fight with Brock Lesnar at UFC 131. His preparation had to be altered two weeks ago when it was announced that Lesnar had to pull out of the fight because the diverticulitis that kept him out of action for a year between 2009-10 had returned. Dos Santos got a replacement opponent in the form of Shane Carwin.
Both dos Santos and Carwin will have to prepare diligently since they only had four weeks to prepare for each other. But will the opponent change be an advantage or disadvantage for dos Santos?
Here’s what dos Santos had to say about the late switch and how it affects his preparation (via Tatame.com):
I’m much focused. I’ve been training hard for two months now, there’s almost a month left before the bout, and I’m doing just fine. I’m on a great patch in my life, thanks’ God, I’m feeling fine and I want to fight. I don’t fight for a long time. Last time I fought it was August of 2010, and I’m fine. I’m just not fighting because of the problems my opponents are facing. Of course it brings us some problems, but I believe that God makes things happens on their own time, and now I’ll be ready to go for this one and, God help me, I’ll win.
In all honesty, Carwin is a much better opponent for dos Santos than Lesnar. What I mean by that is Lesnar’s strong wrestling base would have caused dos Santos some problems, and with Carwin, who is not a strong wrestler, he can stand and trade punches and kicks for three rounds.
I don’t know if Lesnar would have been able to beat dos Santos because he got exposed against better strikers like Carwin and Cain Velasquez, and dos Santos is better than both of them at striking, but Carwin isn’t as dynamic as Lesnar.
Dos Santos earned a championship fight after beating Roy Nelson at UFC 117, but he didn’t want to wait until until Velasquez healed following surgery. After UFC 131, dos Santos will not have to delay his championship fight any longer as he will be victorious against Carwin at UFC 131.