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Junior Dos Santos Says USADA Anti-Doping Ordeal Was His Biggest Fight to Date

July 11, 2018 | Posted by Jeremy Thomas

Junior Dos Santos spoke with MMAjunkie ahead of his fight with Blagoy Inanov at UFC Fight Night 133. Highlights are below:

On being flagged (and eventually cleared) for a potential anti-doping violation last August: “That was the biggest fight, to fight for my reputation and everything that I believe and everything that I said before. Because I was loud, always supporting USADA, and then everything was happening against me. (I’d never seen) myself going through something like that. But it was happening, and I had to deal with that. It was a very bad moment of my career, of my life.”

On his reaction to the situation: “Of course I’m afraid now. Every time they get in my house, I’m nervous. Because I don’t know. I wasn’t doing anything wrong before. There’s nothing to learn. They asked me, ‘What have you learned from that?’ Nothing. I was doing everything right. I was doing everything the best I could. I don’t take any type of drug. I don’t drink alcohol. I don’t smoke. I don’t do anything like this. They say I’m a boring guy, but I’m a very happy guy, actually.”

On his love of MMA: “I love this sport. I love who I am. To be here, to be Junior Dos Santos, for me – I can’t see myself doing anything else right now. I’m 34 years old, young.”

On a potential third fight against Stipe Miocic: “When you become the champion, you become a target. Now, the new target for the heavyweight division is Daniel Cormier. Everybody, of course, wants to fight him, including me. And eventually, at some point, it’s going to happen. But the division is living a good moment. I want to do this third fight with Miocic, too. That could be a good fight for one of these shows. There are many good fights. The heavyweight division is living a good moment and we can give the fans a lot of excitement.”

On a fight with Miocic possibly being a #1 contender’s bought. “I would love that. [laughs] I wasn’t thinking about that, but that’s a good idea. Our third fight and then the winner fights for the title, maybe. Good.”

article topics :

Junior dos Santos, Jeremy Thomas