GRACIEMAG.com met up with Junior “Cigano” dos Santos and a number of other champions at the academy where The Ultimate Fighter, the UFC’s reality show, is shot and where Cigano’s team will face off against the one led by Brock Lesnar.
Now a well established fighter who can’t walk two steps in Vegas without being recognized, it wasn’t but a few years ago that Cigano knew a much different reality.
Cigano trains at TUF gym. Photo: Carlos Ozório.
In the upcoming issue of CHOKE magazine, the MMA supplement in GRACIEMAG, Brock Lesnar’s next opponent speaks of the path he took on his way to the big stage of the UFC, as well as discussing his imminent fight with Lesnar and his role as coach in the TUF house.
“I had a very modest childhood. My father was a mechanic and my mother was a housekeeper. I sold popsicles, delivered newspapers, worked as a bricklayer’s helper… I did a lot of things,” he recounts.
Renowned for his knockouts, Cigano looks back at his first steps in boxing, but also his Jiu-Jitsu, the style that gave him his start in fighting.
“It’s the main art, you have to know it for MMA. A fighter who only knows Jiu-Jitsu has more of a chance at doing well in MMA than an opponent who doesn’t. I’ve
GRACIEMAG.com was with Junior “Cigano” dos Santos and a number of other champions at the academy where The Ultimate Fighter, the UFC’s reality show, is shot and where Cigano’s team will face off against the one led by Brock Lesnar.
Now a well established fighter who can’t walk two steps in Vegas without being recognized, it wasn’t but a few years ago that Cigano knew a much different reality.
In the upcoming issue of CHOKE magazine, the MMA supplement in GRACIEMAG, Brock Lesnar’s next opponent speaks of the path he took on his way to the big stage of the UFC, as well as discussing his imminent fight with Lesnar and his role as coach in the TUF house.
“I had a very modest childhood. My father was a mechanic and my mother was a housekeeper. I sold popsicles, delivered newspapers, worked as a bricklayer’s helper… I did a lot of things,” he recounts.
Renowned for his knockouts, Cigano looks back at his first steps in boxing, but also his Jiu-Jitsu, the style that gave him his start in fighting.
“It’s the main art, you have to know it for MMA. A fighter who only knows Jiu-Jitsu has more of a chance at doing well in MMA than an opponent who doesn’t. I’ve been lucky to train with some of the best, the Nogueira brothers. I’ve also trained with Demian Maia, who is on the world A-Team, and with Xande Ribeiro. With Xande I even put on the gi,” he says.
Want to know more about Jiu-Jitsu and MMA, the buy your copy of GRACIEMAG # 168 at the bookstore or subscribe to the magazine and receive it at home.