UFC 103 – Dos Santos v Cro Cop review and thoughts..

September 23, 2009 · Posted in MMA, Sport, UFC

Junior Dos Santos win was impressive. He is now 9-1 and has another big heavyweight name under his belt. Beating Cro Cop does two things for Dos Santos,
1. Sent shock waves through the heavyweight divison
2. Proved Cro Cop is not ever going to be heavyweight champion in the UFC.

Dos Santos is a big guy, he isn’t pushing the super heavyweight mark but is definitely up there at 238lbs. Dos Santos has an awesome training camp and is back by the Nogueria brothers and Anderson Silva. His power has been unchallenged and I think would cause even the super heavyweight guys an issue. The problem is no one has seen him taken to the ground his Brazilian Ju Jitsu is supposed to be of high standard and wont be sloppy working with the Nog brothers.

His stand up looked better than Cro Cop who didnt look like he liked the raw power of his Brazilian opponent. Dos Santos’ power would rock most heavyweights!

Cro Cop on the other hand former dominating force of Pride has struggled since returning. After his return to UFC he won against Brit lump Mostapha Al Turk but look liked he struggled. Cro Cop is 35 and although his experience is invaluable he has seemed to struggle to improve or change while others around improve. Next step for the Croatia hero maybe to cut wait and fight light heavyweight or carry on picking up his pay cheque at heavyweight. It seems unlikely he will fight any more huge fighters as he has looked bullied and unable to combat the size of his opponents.

Dos Santos might have to deliver against another big name in UFC heavyweight, maybe title chasing Cheick Kongo, if a win it could propel him to title shot.

Danny Denhard

Tweet This :) Digg This Post