The Film Room: Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos
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Rising welterweight contender Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos will step inside the Octagon for his second assignment of 2019 when he takes on Jingliang Li in the UFC Fight Night 157 co-main event on Saturday in Shenzhen, China. “Capoeira” has compiled a 7-1 record with four finishes since he joined the Ultimate Fighting Championship roster in 2015, and a win over Li could put him in position to challenge those closer to the top of the 170-pound weight class.
Dos Santos’ exploits are under the microscope in this edition of
The Film Room.
The only fighters who can make this aggressive style work at the highest levels are those who can comfortably fight at a normal pace and range, only trading in the pocket when the opportunity is perfect. Overly aggressive fighters like Cody Garbrandt tend to get exposed quickly. Dos Santos, on the other hand, can win with his aggression, outstrike opponents on the outside and beat them on the counter -- a true triple threat. Since dos Santos is taking on an equally aggressive fighter in Li, expect him to show more patience and rely on his superior technique rather than risk trading in the pocket.
Dos Santos is not the best counterstriker, but he is good enough to dissuade some opponents from firing first. He only throws counter overhand rights and hooks, which can land at times, but his counters tend to be too predictable.
Dos Santos, as his nickname suggests, comes from a capoeira background and will occasionally use it to keep opponents guessing. These unorthodox kicks alone are not going to win him a fight, but they add to his already deep arsenal of attacks and keep opponents on their toes.
Dos Santos also throws lots of knees and can land them from the outside or in the clinch. He will throw flying knees to initiate the clinch or to trap competitors against the cage, where he can land more knees. It would benefit him to work in the clinch more, but since he is not a great grappler, he only spends brief moments striking in the clinch for fear of being taken down. Li has struggled in the clinch before, and since he is not much of a grappling threat, dos Santos may want to initiate clinches more often to slow down the fight.
Dos Santos prefers to strike, so his grappling often gets overlooked. He is quite easy to take down, but his scrambling and transitional grappling allow him to get back to his feet quickly. When he does find himself on the bottom, he likes to use false submission attempts to get back to his feet, usually a heel hook or other leg locks. We have yet to see him against a grappling-based fighter, but he has held his own on the ground thus far. Although he uses submissions to get back to his feet, dos Santos was never known as a submission threat -- until his recent rear-naked choke finish of Curtis Millender.
Rising welterweight contender Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos will step inside the Octagon for his second assignment of 2019 when he takes on Jingliang Li in the UFC Fight Night 157 co-main event on Saturday in Shenzhen, China. “Capoeira” has compiled a 7-1 record with four finishes since he joined the Ultimate Fighting Championship roster in 2015, and a win over Li could put him in position to challenge those closer to the top of the 170-pound weight class.
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Dos Santos is one of the more fearless strikers in the UFC today,
but what separates him from the others is his fight IQ. Although he
spends a lot of time swinging punches in the pocket, he does so in
a more intelligent manner. Instead of carelessly rushing forward
with combos, “Capoeira” likes to wait until the opponent misses a
strike before blitzing forward with wild bursts. He follows the
classic make-them-miss-make-them-pay approach but with a
full-fledged combination instead of a single strike. However, dos
Santos will not spend the entire fight trading in the pocket and
will often take entire rounds to regain his composure and patiently
strike on the outside until he feels the moment is right to push
forward. Something else that makes his aggressive style better than
others: his variety of attacks. He is always mixing up his punches
from head to body and likes to add in kicks to the body and legs
during these long stretches of trading in the pocket.
The only fighters who can make this aggressive style work at the highest levels are those who can comfortably fight at a normal pace and range, only trading in the pocket when the opportunity is perfect. Overly aggressive fighters like Cody Garbrandt tend to get exposed quickly. Dos Santos, on the other hand, can win with his aggression, outstrike opponents on the outside and beat them on the counter -- a true triple threat. Since dos Santos is taking on an equally aggressive fighter in Li, expect him to show more patience and rely on his superior technique rather than risk trading in the pocket.
Dos Santos is not the best counterstriker, but he is good enough to dissuade some opponents from firing first. He only throws counter overhand rights and hooks, which can land at times, but his counters tend to be too predictable.
Dos Santos, as his nickname suggests, comes from a capoeira background and will occasionally use it to keep opponents guessing. These unorthodox kicks alone are not going to win him a fight, but they add to his already deep arsenal of attacks and keep opponents on their toes.
Dos Santos also throws lots of knees and can land them from the outside or in the clinch. He will throw flying knees to initiate the clinch or to trap competitors against the cage, where he can land more knees. It would benefit him to work in the clinch more, but since he is not a great grappler, he only spends brief moments striking in the clinch for fear of being taken down. Li has struggled in the clinch before, and since he is not much of a grappling threat, dos Santos may want to initiate clinches more often to slow down the fight.
Dos Santos prefers to strike, so his grappling often gets overlooked. He is quite easy to take down, but his scrambling and transitional grappling allow him to get back to his feet quickly. When he does find himself on the bottom, he likes to use false submission attempts to get back to his feet, usually a heel hook or other leg locks. We have yet to see him against a grappling-based fighter, but he has held his own on the ground thus far. Although he uses submissions to get back to his feet, dos Santos was never known as a submission threat -- until his recent rear-naked choke finish of Curtis Millender.
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