Junior Dos Santos Excited To Fight Overeem

[No More Sorrow]

Just as he predicted, Alistair Overeem dismantled former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar within the very first round of their UFC 141 main event battle, bringing his opponent to his knees with a vicious body assault and finishing him off with a brutal sequence of right hands.

The first-round TKO win earned Overeem a shot at current champion Junior dos Santos' belt, likely to come sometime before the second half of 2012. Present at the fight last night, JDS spoke with USA Today after the dust had settled, offering his thoughts on facing Overeem in his first title defense.

"It's going to be really, really good for the fans," dos Santos said. "Because he's a striker (and) I'm a striker, it's going to be a stand-up battle."

Though both men are strikers first, dos Santos relies heavily on a boxing-centric style, while Overeem employs more of a Dutch kickboxing approach. Both men use their respective approaches to great effect, but dos Santos believes in his over the Dutchman's.

"He's pretty good at using his kicks, his knees, his punches," he said. "But I believe so much in my boxing."

Dos Santos is currently on the sidelines addressing a torn meniscus. He most recently appeared in action early this past November, taking the belt from Cain Velasquez with a first-round TKO.

Next big test for Overeem, if he can get past Dos Santos and take the title then maybe I'll buy into him.

 

[Deuce]

I bought into him when he made Lesnar look like a little bitch so I won't be suprised if he beats Dos Santos.

 

[Andrew]

This will be a good fight, hopefuly it's in August.

 

[ElHijoDeTesta]

Dos Santos will win. Overeem is a very skilled fighter, but, I just have a feeling Dos Santos is going to be on top for a while.

 

[Slim]

I bought into him when he took over Dream, Strikeforce, and K-1. Him taking down Lesnar was pretty much guaranteed. I'm thinking he is going to take it to dos Santos and will be the UFC champion.

 

[No More Sorrow]

I don't know, I'd like to see Dos Santos have a lengthy run but in that weight class it's hard to have successful run with the title.

And @Andrew August seems right about the exact time that this fight will happen, Dos Santos is still recovering from knee surgery and will need time to prepare for a fight like this.

 

[Andrew]

I'll be looking forward to this fight. Both are great fighters.

 

[Slim]

Dos Santos has the hands and can kick. Overeem has the kicks and can use the hands. Which means Dos Santos will have to move in to close the gap. you move in and you taste knees. He hasn't faced a fighter like this.

 

[Troy]

Another great heavyweight match-up. Both are strikers so this is going to be a fun fight to watch with both guys swinging right from the start. I think I was blinded by the fact Overeem was facing Lesnar last time because looking at their records objectively then it should have been clearer that Overeem would defeat Lesnar. Overeem can stand but also is a quality submission artist so I have to favour Overeem here.

This is a tough division though since no-one can seem to keep the title for too long. Can Overeem or Dos Santos become the guy to dominate the division and actually defend the title a few times.

 

[The Cork]

Fun fight while it lasts.

Can see it being a total washout though, Reem is bigger, far too rangy and has nasty kicks. JDS has accurate, powerful boxing but wont be able to use it well. I was interested how he'd do against a top-level wrestler, but Lesnar didnt get a chance.

Not sold on JDS anyway, the Roy Nelson fight made him look awful while dominant. Even the Velasquez fight looked suspect, it looked like Cain took a dive/was injured going into the fight.

I'll take Reem over any stand up fighter in the division.