Dos Santos Tightens Wrestling for Pending Velasquez Showdown

Junior dos Santos file photo: Dave Mandel | Sherdog.com

Before the blood on Brock Lesnar’s face had dried, mixed martial arts fans were pondering Cain Velasquez’s first defense of the heavyweight title he captured at UFC 121 on Saturday at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.

They weren’t the only ones.

By defeating Roy Nelson via unanimous decision at UFC 117 in August, Brazilian knockout artist Junior dos Santos earned the right to challenge the winner of the Lesnar-Velasquez showdown. After Velasquez’s win, the 26-year-old seemed to relish the tough test in front of him.

“Yeah, it’s a big challenge for me, but I’m very happy to be fighting for the title now, to be the contender,” dos Santos told ESPN’s MMA Live. “I’m training wrestling a lot. He’s a very good wrestler, and I’m training wrestling and jiu-jitsu. And my boxing, because I think my best defense is my hands.”

A Brazilian jiu-jitsu brown belt under Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, dos Santos has become known for his fearsome striking since entering the UFC in October 2008 with a stunning upset of Fabricio Werdum. “Cigano” has punched out four more notable UFC opponents since -- Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic, Gilbert Yvel, Gabriel Gonzaga and Stefan Struve -- and even has designs on representing his home country in Olympic boxing.

Still, the challenger knows he will need to shore up his grappling game to counter what may be Velasquez’s strongest suit.

“I’m training a lot here in San Diego, in the United States, because here, I think, is the best wrestlers in the world,” Dos Santos said. “I have Mark Munoz to help me a lot, Phil Davis. I’m training at Nogueira’s [Black House] gym in San Diego, and [the] Alliance [Training Center], too. They bring a lot of wrestlers to help me, big wrestlers.”

While no timeline was immediately available for the pending title bout, dos Santos said he will be ready whenever the fight materializes.

“I don’t know, but I hope it’s soon, [as early as] possible. Because I’m very excited to fight for the title,” said Dos Santos. “I said before [the Lesnar-Velasquez fight], it doesn’t matter who I’m gonna fight. I just wanna fight for the title, and now it’s gonna be Cain, and I’m happy for this.”

Asked if he was relieved about not having to fight the slightly more monstrous Lesnar, dos Santos gave the new champion his due.

“He’s a huge guy,” he said, “but Cain already beat him.”