Junior dos Santos was born on 30 January 1984, in Cacador, Santa Catarina, Brazil, and is a mixed martial artist, best known as a former UFC Heavyweight Champion – as of December 2016, he was ranked as #4 in the official UFC heavyweight rankings. He is also ranked as the 5th heavyweight in the world by Sherdog. All of his efforts have helped put his net worth to where it is today.
How rich is Junior Dos Santos? As of early-2017, sources estimate a net worth that is at $10 million, mostly earned through a successful career in mixed martial arts which began in 2005, including high-valued contracts. As he continues fighting, it is expected that his wealth will also continue to increase.
Junior Dos Santos Net Worth $10 million
Dos Santos was born into a poor family and at the age of 10 he was already working. When he was 21 years old, he started to pursue mixed martial arts seriously, and trained under Yuri Carlton in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. He would win a few tournaments after only six months of training, and was then invited to try MMA and six months later had his debut professional fight.
Junior fought in small promotions such as Extreme Fighting Championship, Mo Team League, and Demo Fight, and after winning six of his first seven bouts, would then make his UFC debut in 2008. He appeared in UFC 90 as a major underdog, but would knock out Fabricio Werdum in the first round. The following year he defeated Stefan Struve in the first round via a TKO, and continued his winning streak at UFC 103 against Mirko Filipovic. He also defeated Gilbert Yvel and Gabriel Gonzaga in 2010. His next fight would be against Roy Nelson which he won via unanimous decision, also marking the first time that he used different strikes and a takedown. He became a coach during “The Ultimate Fighter Season 13”, and would then fight Shane Carwin, defeating him via unanimous decision.
In 2011, dos Santos faced Cain Velasquez for the UFC Heavyweight Championship, and won with a first round knockout. The following year he was scheduled to fight Alistair Overeem but a failed drug test from Overeem cancelled the fight. This led to Junior fighting Frank Mir whom he defeated via KO during the second round, but then suffered his first UFC loss in a rematch against Cain Velasquez at UFC 155. He bounced back by winning against Mark Hunt at UFC 160 which earned him another shot for the title. His third match with Cain was held in 2013, and dos Sontos lost via TKO during the fifth round. In 2014, he fought Stipe Miocic and would win the fight via unanimous decision. After this fight, he took a year away from fighting and would eventually fight Overeem in 201, losing the fight via TKO, and would then have his next fight against Ben Rothwell which he would win. He is scheduled to fight again for the championship in 2017.
For his personal life, it is known that Junior was married in 2003 to Visana Piccozi has a son with her, but the marriage ended in divorce after 10 years. He then married Isadora in 2016. However, he still professes to be a Roman Catholic. He also cites Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira as his hero.
