Junior dos Santos Is Going To Try And Knock Gilbert Yvel Out At UFC 108

Quoteworthy:

I was training to fight with Napão, but happened that he couldn’t fight so they putted Gilbert Yvel, who’s a very tough guy, he’s coming from victory by knock out in front of Pedro Rizzo and has a very good Muay Thai.  I think that his weak spot is the ground. We’ve trained to make a work with intelligence and a good fight and I’m training a lot on the ground, but I won’t want to take it down soon, I’ll want to feel the fight standing up... I know that he’s good but I believe in me and I know that I can represent danger standing up."  We never know how it’s gonna end, but I’ll try the knock out, that’s what I like to do. I’ll exchange with him

Making his MMA debut way back in 1997, Gilbert Yvel has been around since forever and is still a pretty dangerous fighter on the feet.  Amazingly, 31 of this 36 career wins have come via TKO/KO and knocked out UFC heavyweight Cheick Kongo back in 2004.  Dos Santos has stopped every opponent that he's faced in the UFC thus far, so it's safe to say that this one probably will not be going the distance if dos Santos stays true to his word.  He is listed as a purple belt in BJJ on the UFC website(although I've heard he's a brown belt), training with the Nogueira brothers and Anderson Silva.  So if he does decide to take it to the ground, he's probably skilled enough to get the win there as well.

HT: Tatame