Junior Dos Santos is an active MMA fighter from Brazil, UFC heavyweight champion from November 2011 to December 2012. In addition, Junior Dos Santos has a black belt in Jiu Jitsu.
early years
The birthplace of Junior Dos Santos is the Brazilian city of Casador, date of birth is January 30, 1984. Junior was raised by a single mother. The father suffered from alcoholism and left the family in the mid-nineties.
As a teenager, Dos Santos studied capoeira, and when he was 21 years old, he began to practice jiu-jitsu under the guidance of the famous Brazilian coach Luis Carlos Dorea. In parallel, he worked to improve his striking technique, which allowed him to become a promising MMA fighter.
In July 2006, he held his first professional MMA fight. At first, he fought for small fees at home - in organizations such as Demo Fight and XFC Brazil.
UFC career
Dos Santos fought his first serious fight in the United States on October 5, 2008. At UFC 90, he entered the octagon against compatriot Fabrice Werdum. This fight was successful for Dos Santos - Werdum was defeated by TKO.
At UFC 95, Dos Santos faced the Dutchman Stefan Struve and won quickly enough - it took him less than a minute.
One of the most striking fights in the biography of Junior Dos Santos is considered the fight with Croatian athlete Mirko Filipovic at UFC 103. During the first two rounds, Santos had a clear advantage over Filipovic, periodically entering a hard clinch and hitting him with knees. In the third round, Dos Santos' dominance continued. And at some point Mirko decided not to continue the fight, citing an eye injury.
On January 2, 2010, at UFC 108, Dos Santos' new opponent was Gilbert Evel. Towards the end of the first round, Dos Santos was able to break through the defense of Gilbert, and he ended up on the floor. After that, a series of finishing blows fell on Ivel, and as a result, the fight was stopped.
In the same 2010, Santos celebrated victory twice more - in fights with Gabriel Gonzaga and Roy Nelson.
2011 was also successful for Dos Santos. In June 2011, he took part in the fight for the contender status for the UFC heavyweight championship belt. Shane Karwin was his opponent here. And at the end of all three rounds of this fight, the judges unanimously decided that Dos Santos was stronger.
In the championship fight, which took place in November 2011, he met with the American Kane Velazquez. And already in the second minute (which came as a surprise to many) Dos Santos knocked out Velazquez.
Champion Dos Santos remained a little over a year. At the end of December 2012, a rematch took place between him and Kane Velasquez. And in this five-round championship match, Velasquez looked more prepared. Once, during the fight, he even managed to knock Dos Santos down. Ultimately, the victory was awarded to Velazquez, the Brazilian fighter had to return the championship belt.
In October 2013, Velasquez and Dos Santos met for the third time to identify the strongest in their weight class. And in this battle Velasquez celebrated the victory again.
In the next five years, Dos Santos had several more brilliant fights: on December 13, 2014, he defeated Stipe Miocic, in April 2016 - Ben Rothwell, in July 2018 - Bulgarian Blagoya Ivanov, in December 2018 - Australian Tay Tuivasu …
Dos Santos' fighting career under the auspices of the UFC continues to this day. In March 2019, he fought with the American Derrick Lewis (this fight ended with the victory of Dos Santos), and in June 2019 with the Frenchman Francis Ngannou (the Brazilian lost this fight).
To date, Dos Santos has won 21 victories and 6 defeats as an MMA fighter.
Personal information
In the early 2000s, when Junior was still working as a waiter and did not even dream of a career in mixed martial arts, he met Vilsana Piccozy. And they soon became husband and wife. However, in 2013, after ten years of marriage, their marriage ended in divorce.
After that, Dos Santos married a second time to a girl named Isadora. On March 10, 2017, she gave birth to a boy named Bento. And in May 2019, the couple had a girl. She was named Maria after Junior's mother.
