Last month, Junior Dos Santos was knocked unconscious by longtime rival Alistair Overeem, meaning three out of four career losses have come in his last five appearances. Today, we take a look at the decline of Junior Dos Santos, and how his crowning moment of winning the title seems a distant memory.
In November 2011, Junior Dos Santos was on top of the world. Winning the UFC Heavyweight Championship in just over a minute on network TV while being watched by over 8 million people while he did it, Dos Santos looked to have planted his flag as the leading man in his division.
With exceptional boxing, an underrated jiu-jitsu game and the necessary tools to keep the fight stand up, Dos Santos looked to be head and shoulders above the rest of the UFC Heavyweights.
The only man in the conversation was Cain Velasquez, who he’d just handed his first loss. The two were predicted to go back and forth in a rivalry reminiscent of earlier heavyweights Andrei Arlovski and Tim Sylvia. Instead, Velasquez has remained ranked number 1 at Heavyweight, while Dos Santos hasn’t won two fights in a row for nearly 4 years.
It’s easy to pinpoint the exact moment their fortunes began to diverge.
After their first fight on Fox, the two met in a rematch a year later at UFC 155. It was a massacre.
Velasquez, who was rumoured to have been suffering from an injury in their first fight, laid on one of the most one sided beatings ever seen in the sport. For five rounds, Cain held Dos Santos against the cage and beat him.
As the final buzzer sounded, Dos Santos face had swelled nearly beyond recognition. His eyes forced closed, contusions on his cheeks, and blood poured from his nose and mouth.
F
or 25 minutes, he was locked in a cage, and battered by a human hurricane. Grinding his head into Dos Santos’s face whilst propelling fists and knees into the Brazilians body, Velasquez put the type of hurt on Dos Santos that changes careers. Maybe even the type of hurt that changes lives.
It was as Cain’s hand was raised, and Dos Santos’s broken head lowered, that we saw the beginning of a different path for Junior.
Dos Santos returned to the cage five months later, knocking out Mark Hunt with a highlight reel spinning kick to the head. Hunt, who had never been out cold in the UFC, was out cold and Dos Santos was back in the picture. The rubber match with Cain was booked, and this time people tuned in to see whose victory was truly representative of the men’s abilities.
It was early on that people realised it was as much a repeat as a rematch. Once again, Dos Santos was pushed against the fence and devastated. Once again, his face was left maimed and malformed.
It was moments after that realisation, that another came. Junior Dos Santos is too tough for his own good. As Velasquez drove his pestle fists into the mortar of Junior’s face, it became clear that the Brazilian was unable to quit. Able to be beaten, able to lose, but unable to quit.
The end came when Dos Santos, fell to to the canvas in the fifth through sheer exhaustion. His head drove into the mat, and after a few more fists from Velasquez, the fight was over.
After the fight, UFC President Dana White was asked his thoughts.
“I’m not a doctor,” said White. “But let me tell you what I am: I’ve been around a lot of men who were too tough for their own good. And Junior dos Santos is one of those guys. I mean that with the utmost respect.”
Dos Santos took 10 months off, and returned against Stipe Miocic as a heavy favourite (some betting lines closed at Dos Santos -400 to Miocic’s +355).
The fight didn’t resemble a heavy favourite, and once again Dos Santos came away battered. He eked out a decision, but Miocic not only made him work for it, he made him suffer for it.
It was that performance against Miocic that seemed to suggest the Velasquez losses have altered Dos Santos’s career irreparably.
To put things in perspective, in the sixteen fights he had before UFC 155, Dos Santos received 84 significant strikes. In the five bouts he’s had since, Dos Santos has been hit with 384 significant strikes. Simply put, he’s been hit 300 times more in under a quarter of his fights, all of which have come in his last five appearances.
In an age where concussion and brain damage is being researched prominently, and the effects of repeated trauma to the head is proven to have negative effects, this is a concern. What’s also a concern is the Brazilians attitude.
MMA is a sport of tough men. Founded on a no rule environment, the mindset has been (and often remains to be) that being tough was as important as being good.
This mindset can be seen in gyms across the globe. We hear of gym wars, these hidden, unseen fights that have fighters taking more punishment. It would appear as if Dos Santos remains very much in the camp of ‘being tough’.
In a Q&A on Reddit.com, user ‘mma_spider’ asked Dos Santos: “You have taken a lot of punishment in your last few fights. Has that effected you in anyway?”
“No way,” Dos Santos replied. “That’s easy compared to my sparring sessions. If you guys saw me sparring, you would be impressed how thought that is… It’s all part of my job and I love it.”
‘Edgeify’ then asked “How often do you spar?”
“Twice a week,” was the reply.
After that, Dos Santos faced Dutch kickboxer Alistair Overeem. With a punch that you’d have to think he’d have eaten years ago, Dos Santos was laid out on the floor with the referee standing above him.
Where he goes from here, it’s unknown. But in a sport where once proud, strong men disintegrate into slow, shambling wrecks… one hopes that the decline of Junior Dos Santos doesn’t continue much further.
