Junior Dos Santos Predicts Vitor Belfort and Jose Aldo Will Win at UFC 142

In a recent interview with MMA Nation radio, UFC heavyweight titlist Junior “Cigano” Dos Santos predicted wins for both Vitor Belfort and Jose Aldo in the main and co-main events of UFC 142 Brazil. He also shared his thoughts on Alistair Overeem and Brock Lesnar.

UFC 142 Brazil will mark the first time that Vitor “The Phenom” Belfort’s (20-9 MMA, 9-5 UFC) has fought in his native country since the event was held there almost 14 years ago.

His opponent, Anthony “Rumble” Johnson (10-3 MMA, 7-3 UFC), makes his debut at middleweight having moved up a weight class from the 170-lb division.

Apart from both fighters possessing good striking power, they also have different skill sets which they can utilize in the fight—Belfort with his his BJJ (Brazilian jiu-jitsu) and Johnson with his wrestling base.

The main event, however, features UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo (20-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC) and top contender Chad Mendes.

Aldo who is also a former World Extreme Cagefighting champion is a BJJ black belt with a background in Muay Thai, whilst his counterpart Mendes (11-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC) has NCAA Division I wrestling credentials.

With that said, Cigano gave his predictions on the outcome of the two fights.

"

Luke Thomas: Alright before we let you go Junior, real quickly, give us a prediction if you can this weekend Jose Aldo fights Chad Mendes and Vitor Belfort fights Anthony Johnson. Who do you predict to win in those two fights?

Junior dos Santos: For sure I think it's gonna be a knockout from Jose Aldo because you know, in my mind, he's the second pound-for-pound in the world because he's very good. I like his style of fight and Chad Mendes is an undefeated guy but I will be rooting for Jose Aldo for sure. About Vitor Belfort and Anthony Johnson, it's gonna be another very good fight because they both are tough and Vitor Belfort is a very complete fighter, and it's gonna be the first time Anthony Johnson fighting at the 185 pounds so it will be very interesting. I think Vitor Belfort is gonna win by TKO or something like that.

"

Since he captured the heavyweight crown after his Round 1 demolition of Cain Velasquez two-months ago, Cigano has been in recuperation following a knee injury he sustained prior to his bout with Velasquez.

At present, the convalescing period after surgery to his meniscus seems to be going well as he said he’s on the verge of making a comeback to the Octagon.

"

Luke Thomas: Talk about your knee. I know it was injured going into the fight, you got surgery. Give us a health update on how your knee is doing.

Junior dos Santos: Yeah, my knee is doing great. I'm feeling almost 100 percent and the surgery was very, very simple, it was meniscus surgery and I'm almost ready to my fight.

"

His most likely opponent is former Strikeforce heavyweight kingpin Overeem, who defeated Lesnar at UFC 141 to claim the No. 1 contendership to his heavyweight title.

Cigano spoke about his potential fight with the Dutchman as well as dissecting the matchup between the two UFC 141 main eventers.

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Luke Thomas: Talk about who you're gonna face next, Alistair Overeem. How would grade his performance against Brock Lesnar?

Junior dos Santos: Yeah, I think Alistair for sure is really dangerous and he came for his fight with Brock Lesnar, I think he came with a very good strategy and he was smart in that fight and I think he deserved that win and now it's gonna be between me and him and I think it's gonna be a really good challenge for me and I know it's gonna be a good fight for all the MMA fans because I think it's gonna be a stand-up fight.

Luke Thomas: Were you surprised at how Brock Lesnar looked? How much do you think that sickness, the illness he had hurt him?

Junior dos Santos: Yeah, you know, the waiting, especially that big like Brock Lesnar and Alistair for sure hits really hard. I think he got hurt a little bit on his stomach because you know, they both hit hard and I think Alistair was better in the fight so the only surprise I had was I thought Brock Lesnar would take Alistair Overeem down but he didn't and fighting stand-up Alistair was way better than Brock Lesnar.

"

UFC 142 is set for Jan. 14, 2012, at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro.

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