Junior dos Santos and Fabricio Werdum will meet again almost 15 years after their first encounter in the UFC, and “Cigano” doesn’t feel a lot has changed in some aspects.
“Cigano”, an octagon newcomer at the time, knocked out an experienced and heavy favorite “Vai Cavalo” at UFC 90 in Rosemont, Ill., to start an impressive run towards the UFC belt. Werdum would part ways with the UFC months later to join Strikeforce, and only return years later to claim UFC gold.
They will rematch Friday night with no gloves on at Gamebred Bareknuckle MMA, with Werdum returning after teasing retirement from the sport following a brief run under the PFL banner. Werdum appears to be in incredible shape going into the fight, and dos Santos says he isn’t concerned about doping use.
“I saw he’s really strong, people are talking a lot about it, but chins have no muscle,” dos Santos said with a laugh during a recent episode of MMA Fighting podcast Trocação Franca. “Muscles don’t make much difference when you’re talking about the chin. And, I mean, do you think it was any different back then? I don’t know. It’s complicated, you know? After seeing all kinds of things that happened in the fight world all these years was a huge learning experience for me, to see how things were done. It’s complicated, you know?”
Both dos Santos and Werdum once tested positive for banned substances after the UFC partnered with the United States Anti-Doping Agency. Werdum had his suspension reduced, and “Cigano” was cleared after an investigation conducted by USADA showed that a tainted supplement caused a positive result.
“As for him coming juiced or not, all the guys I’ve fought up until this point — unless after the USADA [UFC deal] that maybe changed things and made it cleaner, I don’t know, but before that… All these guys, brother,” dos Santos said. “I think to myself a lot about this sometimes, about the whole situation of how things were and my decisions about that, you know? Doing the things I did, becoming champion of the world the way I did. Brother, regardless of what comes, I’ll be prepared for everything.”
Dos Santos said he initially turned down an offer to compete at Gamebred Bareknuckle MMA recently, facing Roy Nelson, for not really understanding about the sport. After doing some research, the Brazilian said he’s “pretty excited” because “it’s something different I’ve never done before.”
“It’s not much different [from regular MMA] except for a little more blood,” he laughed, “because every punch ends up cutting the face. People have to be prepared for the blood [laughs], but blood is no big deal. This is an opportunity for me, at this stage of my career, to experience how it was in the early MMA days when people fought with no gloves, with headbutts, no rules. It won’t be like that, but it’s going to be close.”
The knockout specialist believes that competing with no gloves could benefit Werdum given his grappling background. In the end, however, “Cigano” trusts his hands to come out victorious in Jacksonville, Fla.
“I don’t doubt he’ll pull guard,” dos Santos said. “To me, having no gloves might lead to more cuts and getting hurt more, but I need to be careful with my punches. The gloves are there to protect our hands, not the face of our opponents. A fight is a fight and we never know what’s going to happen regardless of how prepared we are.
“The way the first fight went, I expect Werdum to come better prepared and even more strategic this time, not exposing himself too much. That’s why I say he might pull guard. His grappling is the best we’ve ever seen at heavyweight and I see himself using that. He obviously has muay thai, too, but I’m extremely confident and ready to get it done like I did thew first time. He may have underestimated me or not but whatever it was, I don’t think [the knockout] was a mistake on his part, but credit to my work.”