Fighters Only recently translated a quote from UFC #1 heavyweight contender Junior dos Santos, revealing his rather interesting thoughts on the injury to heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez:
"I'm really outraged. How does a person leaves a fight versus Brock Lesnar in perfect physical condition and then get hurt without being in training? The last news I heard about Velasquez, he was riding in Mexico. How did he get injured?" he questioned.
"I'm in the best moment of my career, training heavily and working hard to put on the fight of my life, and all of a sudden, this is postponed for eight months. That's unfair."I'm five months without fighting, fighting is my life, not just because I love doing it, but also because I need to fight for a living. I don't make as much money as the top fighters, so I really need to work" said Cigano who expects Dana White to put him to dispute an interim belt.
"Of course it would be fantastic to face Velasquez at 'UFC Rio', in August, but I can't keep myself one year away from the Octagon only waiting for his recovering... so I do think what would be most fair, would be Dana gives me the opportunity to fight for an interim belt".
Dos Santos last fought at UFC 117 in August, a brutal contest against Roy Nelson that saw the Brazilian beat down his overmatched opponent. No announcement had been made for dos Santos's bout with Velasquez, who took the championship from Brock Lesnar at UFC 121 in October and is expected to miss more than half of this year with a torn rotator cuff.
I'm with Junior on this one: it's far more prudent to take a fight, risk losing, and keep sharp than to sit on the shelf and wait for your title shot like Rashad Evans has been doing with Mauricio Rua injured. The big question remains, however -- who is there to fight dos Santos in the very thin UFC heavyweight division?
UPDATE: Velasquez tells MMAJunkie.com he takes no offense to dos Santos's remarks, doesn't expect him to wait for a title shot: "[The UFC] has to keep the fights going. You can't can't wait around half a year for fights. They fight all the time. It doesn't offend me at all."
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