UFC: Junior Dos Santos Is a Class Act and Should Be the Face of the UFC

For as long as the UFC has been around, they have been thought of as more of an underground organization. Yet with the move to more of a mainstream setting being shown in more bars and even on Fox and FX, fans are getting more exposure to the sport.

With more exposure leads to more scrutiny of the members of the organization, and for the most part, most of the UFC guys tend to be standup individuals. If Dana White wants to really make the UFC something that can go completely mainstream though, he needs to harness the character of Junior dos Santos.

Junior dos Santos is arguably the best guy outside of the Octagon in the UFC. He runs a camp for underprivileged children and isn't one to talk bad about his opponents.

Sure he dominated Frank Mir in his UFC 146 title defense, but instead of talking down about his opponent (or even talking about the fight at all really), he wanted to get the kid that he flew to the fight in the Octagon so he could celebrate his victory with him.

A young nine-year-old boy named Breno Luis Ferreira de Carvalho from Salvador, Brazil pleaded on UFC Primetime for Dos Santos to help him come and watch the fight. Dos Santos did not just fly out Ferreira, but he also (with help from the UFC) got him a hotel and tickets for him, his brother and his mother to see thefight.

Dos Santos had this to say about his new friends, via MMA Junkie:

"

It's good to have Breno here. We love having him in the gym. He's been coming to the gym so often now he's become a little friend. We call him the 'Little Guy.' After my last sparring session before flying to the U.S., he asked me why I had to fight in Vegas, and when I explained he said he wanted to come to help me win.

He didn't have a passport, and his mother didn't have a passport, but I was a little guy once and people helped me. If we could make the little guy's dream come true, if we were able somehow, why wouldn't we?

"

This says a lot about how Dos Santos is—not just as a person, but as a champion. He fights not just for himself, but for the people around him and who grew up in his impoverished area. When watching this man fight, fans only see the heavyweight champion of the UFC.

But Dos Santos is so much more. Harnessing his character and having more fighters help out their local areas will only benefit the sport. Having multiple guys who end up creating their own gyms for underprivileged children would only create positive feelings towards a sport once thought to be no more than human cockfighting.