Brock Lesnar vs. Junior Dos Santos UFC 131: An Early Head-to-Toe Breakdown

As we head deeper into Season 13 of The Ultimate Fighter, we continue to inch closer toward the eventual showdown between former UFC Heavyweight Champion, Brock Lesnar, and Brazilian knockout artist, Junior dos Santos.

The fight will be the biggest of dos Santos’ career thus far and an equally important one for Lesnar to get back in the win column after the one-sided beating he took from Cain Velasquez at UFC 121.

dos Santos has been working toward a title shot of his own and will almost certainly receive one if he is victorious on June 11 at UFC 131.

Striking

As was shown in his battles with both Shane Carwin and Cain Velasquez, the biggest hole in Brock Lesnar’s game may be his standup defense. In both fights, Lesnar took punches that landed solidly on his chin and heavily rocked him.

While Velasquez and Carwin may possess more power in their striking, Lesnar could have even more problems with Junior dos Santos.

dos Santos is one of the most technically-sound strikers in the heavyweight division and has won six of his last seven fights by way of strikes, including a broken orbital bone he gave to Mirko “Cro Cop.”

Lesnar has some big-time power, but we haven’t yet seen it used to knock out an opponent on the feet.

Advantage: Junior dos Santos

Wrestling

Junior dos Santos scored the first takedown of his UFC career at UFC 117 in his fight against The Ultimate Fighter Season 10 winner, Roy Nelson. While picking apart Nelson on the feet with a large variety of striking, dos Santos used a takedown to help control the fight and win a unanimous decision.

There isn’t anything particularly bad to say about Junior dos Santos’ wrestling, but he would certainly be happy to keep the fight on the feet if he can.

As a former NCAA Division I National Champion, the best aspect of Lesnar’s game is his wrestling. Simply put, Brock Lesnar may be the best heavyweight wrestler in all of mixed martial arts.

Lesnar will look to use his superior wrestling early and often in this fight, so it will be up to dos Santos and his trainers to work on ways to keep him off his back.

Advantage: Brock Lesnar

Submissions

When he first made the transition into mixed martial arts, it looked as if Brock Lesnar was going to be a wrestler who tries to win fights with raw strength. In his first UFC fight against Frank Mir, those suspicions were confirmed.

Since that disappointing night, Lesnar has proven that he is in it for the long haul and is truly committed to being a mixed martial artist. He even submitted Shane Carwin with an impressive arm-triangle choke at UFC 116.

On the other side of the cage, Junior dos Santos has looked like primarily a striker in his stint with the UFC. He hasn’t scored a submission victory yet in his UFC career and really hasn’t even attempted a submission.

That said, there is reason to believe that dos Santos has the advantage in submissions given the camp he works with. He trains regularly with fighters like Anderson Silva, the Nogueira brothers, Lyoto Machida, Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante and Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza.

This may be the biggest question mark in the entire fight.

Advantage: Junior dos Santos

Strength

At 6’4”, 240 pounds, Junior dos Santos hasn’t spent much of his life being the small guy. But when he steps into the cage at UFC 131, the 26-year-old will be at a significant disadvantage in terms of pure size and strength.

Brock Lesnar is a 6’3” beast who looks like a genetics experiment gone horribly wrong—or amazingly right, depending on your viewpoint. Just watching his workout video would be enough to instill fear in the heart of a Spartan warrior.

Many will say that Lesnar was out-muscled by Cain Velasquez in his last fight, but that’s not entirely true. Until he started getting tagged with punches that dazed him, Lesnar was largely controlling the fight with his wrestling and strength.

Junior dos Santos will be an interesting test for Lesnar but not in this area.

Advantage: Brock Lesnar

Conditioning

It’s hard for us to get a true understanding of what Junior dos Santos’ cardio actually is, given that his opponents have only made it out of the first round in two of his six fights in the UFC. In addition, only one opponent has gone the distance with him, that opponent being Roy Nelson in his last fight at UFC 117.

Though Roy Nelson gained a lot of respect for going to a decision with dos Santos, many fans criticized dos Santos for not finishing the fight and looking somewhat sluggish toward the end.

With Lesnar, you know what you’re going to get—a non-stop tornado of intensity. If a guy who looks like Roy Nelson gave dos Santos problems, imagine what a powerful and incredibly quick Brock Lesnar can do with his style.

Brock Lesnar has only gone to a decision once thus far in his career, in his second UFC fight against Heath Herring back in August 2008. The scary thing is that he looked about as fresh after the fight as he did when he came in.

There seems to be a general consensus that the longer a fight goes, the more it favors the smaller man... But that may not be the case at UFC 131.

Advantage: Brock Lesnar

Prediction

Some may say it's too early to start giving predictions, but given the nature of the sport and its insistence on always predicting what will happen down the road, I’m prepared to give one.

While there are certainly plenty of ways for “Cigano” to win this fight, the Vegas oddsmakers that currently have Junior dos Santos as a favorite in this fight have it wrong.

Judging by what we’ve seen so far on The Ultimate Fighter, Brock Lesnar appears to be just as committed now as he was the day he won his title. A man will his size and skill combination is one who should not be underestimated against any opponent.

Lesnar’s advantages in wrestling and strength will be the determining factors in this fight, assuming that he can avoid being clipped by a big punch from dos Santos as he goes in for a takedown.

Certainly dos Santos is working on his takedown defense and submissions in camp, but it will not be enough to stop Lesnar from punishing him with the worst ground-and-pound he may ever face.

Brock Lesnar by TKO, Round Two

UFC 131 Brock Lesnar vs. Junior dos Santos: Photos, Videos, News, Results And More!