Close, But No Cigano: What Does Junior Dos Santos Need To Improve On?

Junior Dos Santos is now one step closer to the UFC Heavyweight title.

The Salvador native took Roy Nelson to a decision, and will now be waiting in the wings for a crack at the winner of Brock Lesnar and Cain Velasquez sometime in early 2011.

It's a good thing he'll have some time off because, there are holes in his game he should look to improve on once he enters the octagon again.

His dominant win against Roy Nelson proved, that while he is a worthy contender, he isn't quite there just yet.

Conditioning

In the opening round, Dos Santos came out and blasted Nelson with a crisp combination of stiff jabs, hard crosses and uppercuts, dropping him twice before the horn signaled the end of the round.

As the fight wore on, the hard shots Dos Santos was feeding to his opponent weren't having the same effect as before. Nelson still took a beating, but he was not put away as most people would have expected.

This had a lot to due with the fact Dos Santos was tiring himself out, he put a large amount of strength and speed into his punches.

He even tried mixing up his strikes with leg kicks and knees to the abdomen of Nelson, but still did not finish the former IFL champ.

Against a fighter like Lesnar or Velasquez, it might be wiser for him to keep his distance and pick his shots, before unloading one of his powerful haymakers or uppercuts.

Striking is not always the best tool to rely on at times, Shane Carwin's bout with Lesnar is a great example. 

Versatility

This is another aspect we have only seen this talented striker use occasionally; for example, his bout versus Mirko Cro Cop and against Roy Nelson.

Against Cro Cop at UFC 103, Dos Santos mixed up his attack with a barrage of strikes, leg kicks and knees, and at one point applying a muay thai clinch. The versatility of Dos Santos damaged the older, more experienced fighter in Cro Cop forcing him to verbally submit in the third round.

In his bout vs. Nelson at UFC 117, Dos Santos changed up his attack with leg kicks and strikes. Dos Santos dropped the rotund fighter twice, and even delivered a front kick to the face of Nelson.

The damage was enough to earn Dos Santos the victory via unanimous decision.

Although he's only shown his versatility briefly, history has shown it is an effective tool that can cause damage to whoever stands across from Dos Santos. Whether he squares off against Velasquez or Lesnar, being more versatile would surely give Dos Santos an advantage and bring a higher success rate in finishing his opponents.

Defense from the guard

Another aspect from Dos Santos arsenal that fans haven't seen is his ground game, or his ability to defend from the guard.

With the exception of Gabriel Gonzaga, every one of Dos Santos' opponents have been primarily strikers. Dos Santos' takedown defense is really good and was only taken down by Gonzaga once, before quickly returning to his feet and blasting the fellow Brazilian and picking up a TKO.

Both Velasquez and Lesnar are NCAA Division 1 wrestlers, so it's likely Dos Santos will be brought to the canvas, but what will he do when he's put there?

He might be able to shrug off some takedowns, if he can retain a good posture in his hips and legs and sprawl at the right time.

Although he holds a brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under the Nogueira brothers, Dos Santos does not hold enough experience on the ground; especially against the caliber of a fighter like Lesnar.

His best bet would be to control his opponent and posture up, and to look for them to leave an arm or space open, so Dos Santos can capitalize and look for a reversal or submission.

Should he pick up on these holes in his game, then he will undoubtedly climb the ranks of UFC heavyweight division, and eventually wear the heavyweight title belt.