After another five round brutalizing main event, Junior dos Santos finds himself with another swollen face that will take time to heal. Dos Santos went to war with Stipe Miocic last Saturday night and even though he came away with the victory, he may have payed the price in the long run for this bout.
Ever since Cain Velasquez reclaimed his title from dos Santos, the former UFC Heavyweight Champion has seen nothing but 2nd place ever since. Dos Santos lost a five round decision to Velasquez, won a TKO victory against Mark Hunt and then lost via TKO in the fifth round in the dos Santos/Velasquez trilogy. He took time to heal, but after this last bout, dos Santos may have to take even more time off because of reoccurring damage.
Fabricio Werdum will most likely get the next shot at Velasquez if Velasquez is able to heal. Werdum might have to defend his Interim belt before that happens though. It is uncertain who Werdum would face, but dos Santos will not be able to fight anytime soon. Travis Browne has mentioned that he wants another shot at Werdum, with Andre Arlovski being another surging heavyweight in the division. There are a lot of possibilities, but as Dana White always says, “We’ll see what happens.”
Dana White has not been shy about sharing his concern based on the health and well-being of dos Santos. White feels that dos Santos is too tough for his own good. With an iron will and a granite chin, there is no quit in dos Santos when it comes to fighting and he is still aiming for a fourth fight with Velasquez.
Hopefully all these wars do not make dos Santos end up like former boxing champion Muhammad Ali or kickboxing and MMA great Gary Goodridge. Goodridge now has an early onset form of dementia and has slips and glitches in his short term memory throughout the day. Dos Santos has not been in as many fights as Goodridge and has never been knocked out cold like him, but the effects of these five round wars that dos Santos has been in could be very damaging for his brain.
There is no doubt that dos Santos is still one of the most talented and dynamic heavyweights out there. He just needs to be careful in his approach to fighting and make sure that he can avoid as much damage as possible as he continues his MMA career.
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