Tag: Junior dos Santos

2011: Year of the Heavyweight

Filed under: UFC, StrikeforceIf 2011 goes as planned, we’ll see more good, competitive, high-level mixed martial arts fights than we’ve ever seen in any year of the sport’s existence.

Strikeforce’s eight-man heavyweight tournament was getting all the …

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If 2011 goes as planned, we’ll see more good, competitive, high-level mixed martial arts fights than we’ve ever seen in any year of the sport’s existence.

Strikeforce’s eight-man heavyweight tournament was getting all the headlines last week, but the UFC did a nice job of bouncing back with the news that Brock Lesnar and Junior dos Santos will coach the upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter, that Shane Carwin expects to return in June, and that Frank Mir vs. Roy Nelson and Stefan Struve vs. Travis Browne are slated for May.

Assuming a best-case scenario for both promotions, we’ll have good heavyweight fights from Strikeforce, the UFC or both every month for the next 10 months or so, culminating with the return of Cain Velasquez and the Strikeforce tournament final toward the end of the year. Remember, I started this with an “If”: Looking ahead to fights that we hope to see in the future is always risky business. But below we’ll look at the fights that will make this the year of the heavyweight.

Put Doubts About Lesnar’s Gameness to Rest After Taking Dos Santos Fight

Filed under: UFCThere’s always been an undercurrent of distrust in Brock Lesnar from some who refused to view him as a mixed martial artist, and could only see him as a fake fighter masquerading around as the real thing.

Despite reaching the heights o…

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There’s always been an undercurrent of distrust in Brock Lesnar from some who refused to view him as a mixed martial artist, and could only see him as a fake fighter masquerading around as the real thing.

Despite reaching the heights of UFC champion, the number of doubters only grew in Lesnar’s last two fights. Lesnar struggled badly in the first round of his bout with Shane Carwin before rebounding for a win, and Cain Velasquez battered him around on his feet en route to seizing the championship.

As a result, lots of people thought that Lesnar was going to simply quit. They didn’t like his body language when both Carwin and Velasquez were boxing him up on his feet. Lesnar seemed to lose his composure and turtle, or worse, run. When rumors of a return to the WWE surfaced, many thought he would simply head right out of the UFC.

With Lesnar’s acceptance of a job on The Utlimate Fighter and an eventual matchup with powerful Brazilian striker Junior Dos Santos, lay all the rumors about Lesnar and any doubts about his gameness as a fighter to rest.

For Better or Worse, TUF Coaching Gig a Chance to Show Some Personality

Filed under: UFCThere’s a decent chance that Brock Lesnar may not survive his “Ultimate Fighter” coaching stint. Come on, six weeks in Vegas, away from the sanctuary of his Minnesota compound? With cameras in his face for the better part of every day? …

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There’s a decent chance that Brock Lesnar may not survive his “Ultimate Fighter” coaching stint. Come on, six weeks in Vegas, away from the sanctuary of his Minnesota compound? With cameras in his face for the better part of every day? All while hopeful young fighters pester him for something resembling guidance?

For the reclusive, misanthropic Lesnar we’ve come to know and be fascinated by, it sounds like a prison sentence. It sounds like the exact opposite of everything he claims to enjoy.

Instead of privacy, he gets constant attention. Instead of whitetail deer and a barber who knows just how he likes his crew-cut sculpted, he gets gas station slot machines and awkward gym time alongside his next opponent, Junior dos Santos.

If his head literally explodes on camera, I won’t be terribly surprised.

Junior dos Santos Favored to Beat Brock Lesnar

Filed under: UFCBrock Lesnar is no longer viewed as the baddest man on the planet by the betting public.

Lesnar, who has entered the Octagon as the betting favorite in every one of his UFC fights, is actually the underdog for his June bout against Jun…

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Brock Lesnar is no longer viewed as the baddest man on the planet by the betting public.

Lesnar, who has entered the Octagon as the betting favorite in every one of his UFC fights, is actually the underdog for his June bout against Junior dos Santos, which was announced on Tuesday. Bodog lists dos Santos as the favorite at -160 and Lesnar as the underdog at +130.

That says a lot about what the beating Lesnar took at the hands of Cain Velasquez did to Lesnar’s reputation. When Lesnar tapped out 90 seconds into his first UFC fight, against Frank Mir, it was easy to write that off as an inexperienced fighter making a mistake against a Brazilian jiu jitsu black belt. But the Velasquez fight? That was a good, old-fashioned butt kicking.

UFC Announces Lesnar vs. Dos Santos as TUF 13 Coaches

("Puleeaaze…You mean the dweeb in the alligator shirt? Yeah, I’ll fight him next.")
UFC.com inadvertently stole Dana White’s thunder this afternoon by announcing that Junior Dos Santos and Brock Lesnar will be the coaches on next season of …


("Puleeaaze…You mean the dweeb in the alligator shirt? Yeah, I’ll fight him next.")

UFC.com inadvertently stole Dana White’s thunder this afternoon by announcing that Junior Dos Santos and Brock Lesnar will be the coaches on next season of The Ultimate Fighter before the UFC president could make the announcement during Tuesday’s conference call for the January 22 Fight for the Troops event.

White shot down media members during the Q&A who asked if he would name the TUF 13 team heads, explaining more than once that he would be announcing who the coaches would be at the end of the call, but was upstaged by his company’s website who posted the press release 15 minutes before he could break the news.

According to the release, the pair of heavyweights will meet at the end of the season and the winner will face champion Cain Velasquez when he returns from a shoulder injury in an estimated six months.

White, who admitted during the call that he had lied to reporters when he told them that he had not spoken to Lesnar since his loss to Cain Velasquez at UFC 121 in October also quashed rumors that the bout will be for the interim heavyweight title.

The full release is after the jump.

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Report: Dos Santos to Fight for UFC Interim Heavyweight Strap; The Question is, Will it Be Against Lesnar or Carwin?

("Blackhouse Brazilian Iced Tea? Those foolish MMA fans will buy anything.") While on Larry Pepe’s Pro MMA Radio show yesterday, Yahoo! Sports MMA writer Kevin Iole threw out a crumb likely fed to him by Dana White that Junior Dos Santos wi…


("Blackhouse Brazilian Iced Tea? Those foolish MMA fans will buy anything.")

While on Larry Pepe’s Pro MMA Radio show yesterday, Yahoo! Sports MMA writer Kevin Iole threw out a crumb likely fed to him by Dana White that Junior Dos Santos will not sit around waiting for UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez to heal from his torn rotator cuff, but will instead face a yet-to-be-named opponent for the UFC’s popular interim heavyweight strap.

"[Dos Santos] is going to fight for an interim title. They just have to find a contender to fight him. So for that one, I don’t think he should have to wait because he was going to fight for a championship. The UFC will declare the winner of Dos Santos versus "X" the interim champion, so it is his championship fight. He will go down in history if he wins that fight; even if he loses subsequently to Cain on the way back, he’ll be known as a former UFC heavyweight champion, just like Frank Mir’s second reign," Iole explained. "When Shane Carwin beat Mir he became the interim champion, so there were guys that even though the belt was out, they were still recognized as a champion. I think that situation is very simple. Dos Santos should fight, he will fight, they’ll find a heavyweight contender he’ll fight for the interim championship while Cain heals and that will be that. Just like [the runner up in the] Miss America [pageant], he’ll assume the duties [of the champion] while the champion is healing."

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