The Forgotten Heavyweight: Junior dos Santos

All the talk in the UFC heavyweight division surrounds the big five: Brock Lesnar, Shane Carwin, Frank Mir, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Cain Velasquez. While the current champion, Brock Lesnar, may be sidelined with an illness the conversation inevitably turns towards a mini-tournament featuring the other heavyweights. Surprisingly absent from the title discussion is the Brazilian, Junior dos Santos.

Dos Santos arrived upon the UFC scene at the same time as two other blue chip prospects: Shane Carwin and Cain Velasquez. But while Shane Carwin has achieved the status of number one contender and Cain Velasquez appears poised to fight for the title in the next eighteen months dos Santos is quietly waiting in the wings while building up his resume. 

In fact one could argue that Junior dos Santos has a better resume than both Carwin and Velasquez.

Shane Carwin (11-0) UFC wins over Gabriel Gonzaga, Neil Wain and Christian Wellisch

- Carwin's marquee win in the UFC is over Gabriel Gonzaga a fighter who lost to Fabricio Werdum. Neil Wain isn't in the UFC anymore. Christian Wellisch is also out of the UFC and had a 2-3 inside the organization. 

Cain Velasquez (7-0) UFC wins over Ben Rothwell, Cheick Kongo, Denis Stojnic, Jake O'Brien and Brad Morris. 

- Cain's marquee victory in the UFC would either be Ben Rothwell or Cheick Kongo. While Rothwell has a successful resume outside the organization he has only one fight in the UFC where Velasquez easily dispatched the former IFL standout. When one considers Cheick Kongo, his skill set is a perfect match-up for Cain, almost like shooting fish in a barrel (its that whole no takedown defense thing). The other three opponents Denis Stojic, Jake O'Biren and Brad Morris are no longer in the UFC. 

Junior dos Santos (9-1) UFC wins over Mirko Filipovic, Stefan Struve and Fabricio Werdum. 

- Dos Santos' resume is interesting because his best win is over Werdum who is no longer in the UFC but is still considered a top-ten heavyweight. Stefan Struve is considered a hot young commodity though he still has some serious work to do, which dos Santos showed when he dispatched the Dane in Germany. Junior dos Santos also holds a victory over a past his prime Mirko Filipovic.  

Truth be told all of these fighters have opponents on their resumes that we can split hairs over. But there is a reason why Junior dos Santos is currently ranked as the #5 heavyweight above both Carwin and Velasquez.

Now if we can just start including him into the title discussion...