Top Five Junior Dos Santos UFC Moments

Former UFC heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos returned to action in Zagreb, Croatia at UFC Fight Night 86 yesterday (April 10, 2016), and there was a lot on the line. After suffering his first TKO loss from a standing exchange against Alistair Overeem in December 2015, ‘Cigano’ needed to pull out a big performance against Ben Rothwell. With the brutal decision and TKO losses to Cain Velasquez still fresh in memory, some fans were beginning to worry that JDS could be getting a little punch drunk if he continued to take such savage beatings.

Thankfully for the Brazilian boxer last night, he was the one doing most of the punching, and looked damn good doing it, too. He dominated Rothwell over the entire five-round main event spectacle, and was looking like the vintage Dos Santos we were used to seeing in the UFC Octagon. Before we take a look at the Top Five Junior Dos Santos UFC Moments, hear what the likeable knockout artist told MMAFighting.com’s Luke Thomas about his future hopes in the heavyweight division:

“It’s always good to go to the body especially when you’re fighting a huge guy like him. Like I was saying, you can’t collide with those guys. I used my footwork and throw some hard jabs and punches. It worked well. Thank God, I won.”

“I think I’m doing good now. It’s hard,” he said. “I know I have to improve in my skills. Not just my boxing skills, my wrestling, my jiu-jitsu, but I can’t go away from boxing. I have to know jiu-jitsu and wrestling, but I’m a boxing guy. I have to keep it there because I’m more confident. I’m feeling good. I think at this time now we are putting everything in the right place. That’s why I’m saying I’m going to be champion again. It’s not going to take too long.”

Great words from a humble former champ, and without further ado…

Top Five Junior Dos Santos UFC Moments

5. Dos Santos KO’s Mark Hunt

At UFC 160, before facing Cain Velasquez for the third time, Junior Dos Santos took on fellow heavyweight knockout artist Mark Hunt. The two shared an intense three-round war, before the final moments of the last round led to a classic knockout finish. Both men were exhausted from giving it their all, but somehow Dos Santos managed to KO the iron chinned ‘Super Samoan’ with a spinning head kick of all things.

The video of this brilliant finish:

4. Sparta Kick vs. Ben Rothwell

Not a finish, but Junior Dos Santos’ victory against Ben Rothwell was so impressive and meaningful that it deserved a spot on this list. ‘Cigano’ completely dominated ‘Big Ben,’ who was on a crazy four fight win streak that featured victories over Alistair Overeem and Josh Barnett. Once again the slick boxing and footwork was on show by JDS, and this one moment where he rocked Rothwell across the Octagon with a front kick will go down as one of his best:

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3. Junior Dos Santos KO’s Fabricio Werdum

At UFC 90, an unknown 6-1 boxer from Brazil named Junior Dos Santos made his promotional debut. Facing the Pride FC veteran and far more experienced Fabricio Werdum, ‘Cigano’ was a massive underdog. Dos Santos burst on to the scene with a monstrous KO that night, sending the current heavyweight champion to the canvas with a jaw-shattering uppercut. Werdum was out cold, and this moment is still used as a highlight reel today.

The GIF:

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2. Junior Dos Santos vs. Shane Carwin

Junior Dos Santos faced former interim heavyweight champ and fellow knockout artist Shane Carwin at UFC 131, and it was a brutal fight for ‘The Engineer.’ JDS had his way with the fight over three rounds, connecting with a brutal barrage of heavy strikes in pretty much every exchange. These harrowing pictures illustrate the destruction that ‘Cigano’ bestowed on the helpless but huge hearted Carwin:

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1. Junior Dos Santos KO’s Cain Velasquez

A knockout victory for Junior Dos Santos is not a rare occurrence, but very few believed he’d pull it out of the bag against Cain Velasquez. At the time, ‘CV’ was considered one of the most dominant fighters in the UFC, so victory for ‘Cigano’ was predicted to be a long and hard-fought war away. As it turned out, and on the first FOX-aired card ever, ‘Cigano’ wasn’t there to fight five rounds.

He demolished Velasquez with a picture perfect right hand that landed flush behind his ear. The big Mexican-American went down, and a few shots on the ground spelled the end of his first reign and the beginning of Junior Dos Santos’ as UFC heavyweight champ. Will he return to obtain UFC gold once again?