Junior Dos Santos says he wants to be part of MVP MMA’s long-term future and believes Saturday’s Netflix debut event puts him in the right place at the right time.
Dos Santos, 42, faces Robelis Despaigne in the opening bout of Saturday’s main card at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California. Speaking to reporters Wednesday ahead of an open workout, he framed the fight as the start of something bigger.
“After I’ve been seeing what MVP has been doing, especially with the boxing thing and now with the MMA thing, I told myself I’ve got to be there. You see the power of the words, the power of when you put the right energy on things, things happen. I’m here now and I’m looking forward to the future with this company. When I see even Francis Ngannou here, there’s so many possibilities in this promotion, and I’m happy with that.”
Dos Santos has not scored a knockout in over two years, and went five years without one before that. He said the matchup with Despaigne was put together with the intention of producing fireworks.
“He’s a big guy — very fast, actually, for how big he is, and he kicks very hard. He has some good punches, and I’m ready for that. People have been saying that his ground game is not that good, and I’m always looking for the knockout. I know MVP knows what they are doing — why they put me against him: two strikers. They want to see knockouts.”
The former UFC heavyweight champion also noted the significance of opening the first ever Netflix MMA main card.