Dos Santos is a beast. I was a bit skeptical after the Werdum fight-- I thought perhaps he simply landed a lucky shot. He certainly put any speculation to rest after his drumming of, his dismantling of Cro Cop, and his clowning of Yvel. And, though Dos Santos has looked nothing short of spectacular, we still have yet to see him against a true-blue top dog-- a top 5ish fighter. How do you think he would fare against the best of the best? How would he do against Fedor, Brock, Mir, Nogueira, Barnett; Rogers?
Dude can hang with anyone.
He's scary good.
They have to make a Dos Santos/Duffee fight. Dos Santos is ahead of him right now just because of sheer number of opportunities, but that fight would be fireworks!
First off, he will never fight Nog, since he is his nr 1 protege. Also, as strict as the Nogs may be regarding BJJ belts, JDS has a purple belt in BJJ. If it ends up on the ground against a Mir och Lesnar type he may be in trouble
I got to meet him at the terminal and he happened to be on our flight to vegas a week or so ago. I was a fan already, but even more so now... couldn't be a nicer guy.
edit: he sat in coach too! poor guy...
It will be interesting to see how his ground game is. As far as stand up goes, he very well may be the premier striker in the heavyweight division. At this point, I'd give that honor to Fedor, but Dos Santos is certainly approaching fast in that department. Regarding the ground game, I'm sure the Noguerias will bring him along, but the question is-- can they do it quick enough? Dos Santos is headed for battles with Lesnar, Mir, Cain, Carwin, and Gonzaga, all of whom are ground experts. It will be very interesting.
Can't really tell until he faces the top ufc heavys, but all signs point to him being the real deal. Just training with the Nog's would indicate his ground game is tight. His standup is obviously at least very good and he hits hard. Can't really judge his conditioning but he seems very fit. I think he's the next champ.
I realy like what Zuffa has done with him. After bringing him in to lose against Werdum, I believe they realized they had a talent on their hands. Since his defeat of Werdum, they have brought him along, giving him increasingly more difficult bouts. Zuffa is notorious for throwing fighters to the wolves too early, and I am exceptionally happy that they have decided to not go this toute with Dos Santos (with the exception of the Werdum fight).
I may get flamed for this, but I don't want to Dos Santos fight for the belt just yet. I'd like to see him take two more fights this year, to sharpen and hone his skills, and challenge for the title in early 2011.
CornfedPride - I realy like what Zuffa has done with him. After bringing him in to lose against Werdum, I believe they realized they had a talent on their hands. Since his defeat of Werdum, they have brought him along, giving him increasingly more difficult bouts. Zuffa is notorious for throwing fighters to the wolves too early, and I am exceptionally happy that they have decided to not go this toute with Dos Santos (with the exception of the Werdum fight).
I may get flamed for this, but I don't want to Dos Santos fight for the belt just yet. I'd like to see him take two more fights this year, to sharpen and hone his skills, and challenge for the title in early 2011.
why 2 fights in 12 months? he won in the first.
JDC should fight the loser of Cain V Nog and then the loser of Mir V Carwin then give him a shot at the strap.
Rogers?
Lol.
What i like about him is he seems to be able to impose his will on his opponents. Cro-cop has faded in other fights [Fedor, Kongo] but not early in the fight. I know it seems early to predict great things for him but he looks like a monster.
He impresses me more and more every time he fights. They need to keep him active.
I'd love to see him fight Gonzaga. I think that's a fight he could win, but would be more challenging than any fight he has yet taken (with the exception of the Werdum fight).
I'd like to see him VS Velasquez if Cain gets through Nog.
I dont care about knocking a top prospect off. A new crop of top prospects will there in 2011.
If he needs a fight before then? Roy Nelson, Todd Duffee maybe?
Unless he stinks on the ground, he would kill Mir.
lol @ including Rogers in that list, come on, man.
" JDC should fight the loser of Cain V Nog and then the loser of Mir V Carwin then give him a shot at the strap. "
Makes no sense to have a rising star on a 4 win streak fight losers.
theYak - Mir and Rogers don't belong on that list.
How can you say Mir doesn't belong? Have you seen him fight lately? He has one loss in the last 3 years and it was to arguably the best HW in the world.
I Sucked Hardy's Swick -theYak - Mir and Rogers don't belong on that list.
How can you say Mir doesn't belong? Have you seen him fight lately? He has one loss in the last 3 years and it was to arguably the best HW in the world.
TTT
It doesn't make sense to match him with Cain this early in their careers. Gonzaga makes the most sense at this point. I'd like to see Cain and JDS be developed like prospects and not thrown to the wolves, but JDS needs a step up in competition. I don't want to see him fight another striker like Kongo either, but it's always fun watching frenchy get beatup. A fight with Mir would be fun too.
Would definitely love to see him fight either Cain or Carwin -- someone with a good top game who will put pressure on JDS and try to take him out of his element.
The man is a beast, but I want to see him fight off his back against of the premier wrestlers in the division.
Of course, JDS has already fought one of the best grapplers in the heavyweight division in Fabricio Werdum, and we all saw how that one turned out. This was before everyone realized what a force he was, though; now that he has established himself as a top dog striker, someone like Cain would (hopefully, for his sake) know better than to stand with JDS for too long, and it is riddiculously hard to stop the shot of an All-American Division I wrestler when you have no previous wrestling background (of course, JDS could always pull a Kongo and catch him on the way in, and I gurantee you he would have the killer instinct to finish him in that kind of situation, unlike Kongo.)
Regardless, Junior Dos Santos is definitely a force to be reckoned with, and I'm sure Nog is taking him to school on the ground and tightening up his BJJ; but I'd like to see his grappling first-hand.