Junior dos Santos

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1 Profile
2 Early Career
3 UFC
4 Mixed martial arts record
5 Gallery
6 External links

Profile

Junior "Cigano" dos Santos (born September 12, 1984) is a Brazilian professional mixed martial artist and Brazilian jiu jitsu purple belt under twins, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira.

He stands 6 ft. 4 in. (194 cm) tall and fights in the heavyweight division at approximately 234 lbs..

Dos Santos currently fights as a heavyweight for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).

His nickname "Cigano" roughly means "Gypsy" in Portugese.

Early Career

Junior dos Santos made his professional fighting debut on July 16, 2006, beating Jailson Silva Santos by KO.

"Cigano's" next victim would be Eduardo Maiorino, who succumbed to a Guillotine Choke, at just 0:50 into their bout. Both of Junior's following two matches were held at a one-night tournament called Xtreme Fighting Championships. The rules of the Brazilian tourney involved a two-tier match-up system, with the the winners of the semi-final contests meeting later that evening in a no time limit final. After winning his first pairing, with a TKO over Edson Paredao, dos Santos earned his way into the main event. Dos Santos and his foe, Joaquim Ferreira, appeared stale-mated until Ferreira ultimately surrendered, submitting due to sheer exhaustion.

Continuing his winning ways at a Mo Team League qualifier, with a first round TKO against Jair Goncalves brought Junior's record to a perfect 5-0. Having qualified dos Santos was now able to face Joaquim Ferreira, in a rematch. The pair's second meeting ended badly for "Cigano" when he suffered his first loss, submitting due to Armbar.

Following a six-month hiatus from fighting, Junior rebounded with a win against Geronimo dos Santos, scoring a TKO in the first round. With a 6-1 record, every single bout of which had come to a conclusive finish, "Cigano" was contacted by Zuffa, and brought to compete in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

UFC

Dos Santos made his UFC debut at UFC 90 against the highly regarded, Brazilian jiu jitsu black belt, Fabricio Werdum. "Cigano" was not given much of a chance before the fight but that didn't stop him from knocking Werdum cold with an uppercut early in the first round to snatch the upset.

At UFC 95, dos Santos faced UFC debutant, Stefan Struve on the show's undercard. Dos Santos simply overwhelmed Struve crushing him with heavy blows at :54 of round 1.

"Cigano" will next return to the Octagon at UFC 102 when he faces Justin McCully.