Newly crowned UFC heavyweight champion, Junior Dos Santos is contemplating an Olympic boxing run in an attempt to earn a medal for his home country of Brazil when the Olympic Games head to the South American country in 2016.
Having built his name on his hands and boxing skills, both Dos Santos and his coach feel that he has what it takes to be a success, earn a medal and possibly a future in professional boxing.
Here is what Dos Santos had to say on the matter:
“My trainings begin and end with Boxing. There’re dynamics and strategies I’m already used to. But I’ll test myself, it’s inevitable. Who knows I get an Olympic medal. Everything’s possible.”
His Coach, Luiz Carlos Dorea, chimed in with the following:
“The adaptations from Boxing to MMA are complexes. You gotta be careful about blocking the kicks and takedowns. If he’s already above average combining all those things, imagine when he fights traditional Boxing. The chances he’ll shine are huge, both on professional and Olympic Boxing.”
There are obvious roadblocks in their ambitions, most notably, Juniors UFC contract. In the past, UFC officials have not been kind to fighters who want to compete in multiple combat sports simultaneously, however maybe JDS will be the exception to the rule.
We are also talking about four-years from now, so anything can happen between now and then.
What do you guys think, can JDS make a run in the “sweet science”?
(quotes and image provided by tatame.com)
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Definitely. By far he has the best hands in the HW division. If you shall dream then dream big. Sky is the limit for this guy. Get em Junior!
Jds is an incredible athlete with the best hands in the ufc with that said I say yes he can
by far the best hands in the ufc
JDS is the best boxer hands down in the UFC.. Diaz gets hit way to often to make that claim, defensive boxing is just as important as offensive..
Doubt it. His hands are good enough for the ufc but if he got in their with a straight boxer he would get ate up. Imagine him fighting a Klitscko brother?
he’d knock em both out.
i agree
I agree, his hands are excellent for MMA, but he wouldn’t get close to a title in Boxing.
Hell yea he can
I like JDS and his boxing in MMA is dope.. but he would get out boxed by superior boxers competing for gold at the Olympics.
His dreams are getting bigger and bigger…and he IS achieving them so the sky’s the limit for this guy
with his attitude skies the limit….anything jds puts his mind and heart to he can do it….he’s a good and great ambassador for mma and brazil…..
I think he would do great in the Olympics, and with proper training he would do great in professional boxing… and as for fighting the Klits bros… his boxing is amazing for mma, you gotta realize he doesnt train boxing fulltime, he has 2 train wrestling and jiu jitsu and everything else that has 2 do with MMA.. if he put all his time and effort into just boxing, he would look alot better than he does now… so I think he’d do just fine.
On the UFC on Fox 1 broadcast they said he had only been training for 3 months in MMA before he started competing. He has incredible talent and if his prospect of Olympic gold are four years from now, he only going to continue to improve till then. Dana would be smart to let him do it. It would reflect well on MMA as a whole because JDS can do this. JDS proved that good things happen to good people if they work hard.
He is obviously an extremely tallented athlete that would most likely excell at any sport
in which he participated, including amature and professional boxing. But good luck getting Dana White to let him attempt any other sport besides mma.
@josh olympic boxing is only for amateur fighters so he won’t be fighting anyone with pro experience like the klitscko bros…which is something he’d have an advantage in over all the other fighters b/c of the big stage of the UFC…however most guys that reach the olympics in boxing have been doing it their whole life……BUT….if lil nog can medal in the olympics, I firmly believe that JDS can grab a medal as well
I dont think MMA boxing is quite the same as Professional Boxing. But I thought Olympic Boxing was about points, not KO’s or Knockdowns. But i’m not quite sure. JDS needs to just stay focused on what he’s doing right now. He’s got a title defense against a big man in Brock or Overeem coming up, I’d still favor JDS against either. but he’ll be giving up 30-40 lbs. to either guy.
BAH! Just stick with the MMA dude, fuck the boxing.
Its going to be difficult boxing in mma and actually is completely different. You can’t roll punches off your shoulder in mma b/c of the takedown. Defense fighter boxer in boxing is at a whole another level, it’s going to be a tough transition. But best of luck to Junior tho.
id love to see him accidentally throw a vicious head kick and win by KO.
or get rocked and go in for the double leg lol
Winning Gold and on his way defeating every opponent by KO would be sweet. But I don’t think DW will let him. Overeem has to give up K-1 as well now that he signed the UFC deal…
Maybe he can ease into it……I’d love to see Lennox Lewis test his skills.
He wont even be champ in UFC much longer y does he think he has a shot in pro boxing he would get destroyed