JDS: Mir lacks courage when he gets in a tough spot
UFC Heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos was originally slated to fight former Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem on the Memorial Day…
UFC Heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos was originally slated to fight former Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem on the Memorial Day weekend show. Then a surprise test indicated Overeem was taking PEDs, and he was eventually suspended for nine months.
Frank Mir, coming off wins over Cro Cop (KO), Roy Nelson (Unanimous Decision), and Dos Santos’ mentor, Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira (broke his arm) was scheduled to fight Cain Velasquez, but was switched to fight JDS.
Dos Santos spoke with USA TODAY, through his manager and translator, Ana Claudia Guedes.
Sergio Non: When you first heard about Overeem’s test results, what went through your mind?
Junior Dos Santos: It wasn’t really a big surprise for me. I don’t know. I’ve heard lots of stories about people getting caught in drug tests. You hear through the grapevine that people use substances that are performance enhancing, so it wasn’t a big surprise.
That said, I don’t use and I’ve never used any performance-enhancing substance whatsoever.
SN: Mir said to me that if this fight goes to the later rounds, he will have an advantage. I assume you think he’s wrong; why, in your view, would he be incorrect in saying that?
JDS: Absolutely I disagree with that.
Frank Mir is dangerous. He’s a fighter that needs to be taken seriously. But he’s also a fighter that talks too much. His style of promoting fights is to just talk a lot.
He previously said that he was faster than me. That’s only in his dreams.
Of course, he isn’t faster than me. I’m faster. For sure I hit harder. And if the fight goes to rounds three or four or five, for sure I take the advantage.
SN: Mir views himself as a good boxer for MMA. How would you rate his striking compared to other heavyweights?
JDS: Like I just said, he talks way too much. It’s just the way he likes to promote fights.
Mir’s boxing is reasonable. It’s OK. He takes advantage sometimes, just from the fact that he’s left-handed, but he’s really just pretty average with his boxing.
Any heavyweight hits hard. All heavyweights hit hard. But compared to other heavyweights, compared to me, compared to my boxing — I’m faster than him; I hit harder than him; and I’m better technically.
SN: One thing that Mir has said is that he believes he matches up, generally speaking, better against strikers than against wrestlers. Would you agree with that?
JDS: I don’t really agree.
I think when Mir’s in a good spot in the fight — when he’s in a good moment and in a good position — he’s very dangerous. But Mir doesn’t really know how to get through rough spots in a bout.
When he gets in those rough spots, his courage goes out the window; his aggression goes out the window.
What happened against Nogueira in his last fight was really an anomaly, because Mir got caught standing up. He got caught. He was ready to go down, ready to go out; and he was able to get through that and come back. That never happens in Mir’s fights.
Usually when Mir gets into a little bit of trouble during a fight, he can’t come back from it.
