What’s the story?
Former UFC Heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos is in a predicament these days. The 32 year old Brazilian is without an opponent for his upcoming fight at UFC Fight Night 105. According to Mmajunkie.com, ‘Cigano’ is currently hoping to headline the UFC event at Helifax, Canada.
However, the UFC still haven’t found a fighter to replace Stefan Struve at such a short notice. JDS is reportedly immensely exasperated with his current situation. He was quoted stating the following:
“It’s very frustrating, to be honest,It’s tough, because you know how hard it was to find an opponent. I think many things were happening in the division, but we weren’t able to find an opponent. A few of them were injured, others serving suspensions, others with fights booked and others who wouldn’t take the fight – which for me is kind of absurd, but OK. Unfortunately, (Struve) got hurt. I can’t judge things without knowing, and I’ve been in his position before, so I can only wish him a good recovery so he can return as fast as possible. Who knows – maybe in the future we can fight.”
In case you didn’t know...
The Brazilian was scheduled to headline the Halifax fight card in a rematch against Stefan ‘Skyscarper’ Struve. He first fought the Dutchman at the preliminary card of UFC 95. He had won the fight via TKO due to punches in 54 seconds of the first round.
The heart of the matter
The Brazilian has revealed that Fabricio Werdum was the first choice to replace Struve. However, “Vai Cavalo” rejected the fight for unknown reasons. It has prompted ‘Cigano’ to claim that the 39 year old is scared to fight him. He has also accused Alistair Overeem and the other fighters in the 265 pound division of being scared to fight him.
What next?
The American Top Team member has alternated wins and losses for nearly five years. Thus, he was looking forward to securing his first consecutive victories in over five years by defeating Struve.
He still hopes to headline UFC Fight Night 105 in Halifax, Canada. MMA matchmaker Joe Silva and the UFC too are desperate to keep him on the fight card.
Sportskeeda’s take
Injuries are unfortunately a big part of MMA and all other combat sports. It’s hapless that Struve had to pull out due to his injury. It would be even more unfortunate if the UFC isn’t able to find an opponent for ‘Cigano’. He was hoping to get a title shot with a dominant victory at UFC Fight Night 105. We do hope that the UFC can find an opponent for him. MMA fans in Canada would surely love to watch him fight in Halifax.
