Junior dos Santos wants to forget about the last time he was seen in the Octagon.
Just over a year ago, Cain Velasquez beat the heavyweight to reclaim his heavyweight title, dos Santos danced around at yesterday’s UFC on FOX 13 open workouts and showed some of the championship form that he is best known for.
The fighter certainly appeared to be in a better head space than we last saw him.
“I have to be very thankful because everything is going good right now,” he told MMAFighting.com.
“The last year was really, really tough for me. Those injuries and everything that was happening. One year without fighting… we fight for a living, so it’s very hard for us. But it’s all in the past.”
dos Santos returns to the Octagon this Saturday when he meets Stipe Miocic. The Brazilian says that it is the first step in a long road back to the title.
“Every athlete in the UFC, I think they want to fight for the title,” dos Santos says. “I’m no different. I really believe, it doesn’t matter what happened against Velasquez. I won the first one and I lost the next ones. But I really believe I can be the champion again.
“I really believe if I put my mind in the right place, if I train very hard, if I have good support by my side, I can be the champion again and stay there for a long time.”
