Junior “Cigano” Dos Santos
Junior “Cigano” Dos Santos is not your everyday fighter. While most fighters from Brazil begin training as young as 3 years old, Cigano did not take his first martial arts lesson until he was 21. Less than 4 years later, Cigano walked into the cage at UFC 90 and knocked out Heavyweight Title Contender Fabricio Werdum in the first round.
Cigano was born and raised in Cacadores, Santa Catarina, in the south of Brazil. At the age of 19, he moved to Salvador, Bahia with his family. After a few attempts at being a bus boy and a server at a couple of restaurants, he opened a small toyshop. Cigano relates, “I never really had a goal for what I wanted to be in life.” In April of 2005, that all changed dramatically, as he found himself taking his first Jiu Jitsu lesson at a local academy.
Cigano relates the story of his meteoric development as though it were a walk through the park: “I began training Jiu Jitsu and I quickly got the knack of it, so soon thereafter, Yuri Carlton invited me to attend his Vale Tudo class. After he saw that I was getting good, he introduced me to Luiz Dorea, who began to teach me boxing. After that I began to train hard to compete.”
Cigano fought in his first professional MMA fight just over one year after his first Jiu Jitsu lesson. Six wins and one loss later, Cigano received the opportunity of a lifetime when the UFC called with an offer to have him fight the Brazilian fighting legend and PRIDE alumni, Fabricio Werdum.
As a newcomer who had never fought outside of Brazil, most fans expected an easy win for Werdum. It took Cigano less than 2 minutes to prove them all wrong. “It was like winning a world title. I went from being nobody to somebody,” said Cigano. “I trained hard for the fight. I had the greatest support from my trainers. Rodrigo Minotauro and Rogerio Minotoro worked with me every day, making me believe that I could win that fight.”
“I found myself through fighting. My greatest objective is to be a champion”
