An Impressive ‘Body’ of Work
Originally a fighter who is renowned for his all-guns blazing, stand-and-trade style of fighting that inducted him into the hearts of fans around the world, the overly cautious version of Junior dos Santos that was put away without much fuss by Alaistair Overeem in his previous fight sparked off furious speculation in the MMA world.
Did those wars against Cain Velasquez and Stipe Miocic take too much out of him? Can his chin still hold up against the incredible power that a heavyweight’s punch packs? Would a loss against Ben Rothwell, especially an uncompetitive one, possibly spell the end of his career?
It must however be mentioned that it has evolved into quite a trend with the heavyweights – as Mark Hunt, Andrei Arlovski and even Fabricio Werdum would attest – that a once- written off fighter often catches his second wind and makes a comeback, stronger than ever.
And if ever there was a performance to suggest likewise for Junior dos Santos, it could very well be the boxing masterclass that he put on against Ben Rothwell in the main event on Sunday.
Maintaining distance immaculately by using his footwork throughout the five rounds to steer clear of the clinch, dos Santos picked apart Ben Rothwell with a multitude of body shots mixed in with the occasional blow to the head.
Clearly taken out of his element in being denied the clinch, Rothwell kept absorbing punishment by repeatedly wading forward in hope of closing the distance, playing right into dos Santos’ gameplan of sticking and moving.
Although Rothwell wasn’t knocked out, it was as emphatic a performance as anybody could have hoped for by dos Santos, with all three judges scoring the bout as a 5 rounds to nothing wash-out in favour of the Brazilian.
A visibly elated dos Santos then brought the curtain down on the nights proceedings by claiming that he feels ready for one more title run. On account of that performance, even the naysayers that were predicting his imminent retirement, would be hard-pressed to disagree.
