UFC 302 has the whole world on the anticipation bench, not just with the main event featuring Islam Makhachev versus Dustin Poirier, but for the entire main card. The event will also feature Sean Strickland and the first fighter to ever knock him out, Elizeu Zaleski Dos Santos. 

The Brazilian mixed martial artist is going to face Randy Brown. With a 10-3-1 record in the UFC, dos Santos is, in fact, looking to extend his win streak to three straight with the upcoming fight. Nicknamed ‘Capoeira’, the fighter excels in the technique that his name suggests, using which he has defeated 24 opponents, in his entire career. But let’s talk about the fight that put the Brazilian on the fight fans’ radar. 

When Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos faced Sean Strickland

The Brazilian mixed martial artist landed against Strickland in UFC 224, back in 2018. ‘Tarzan’ had only two losses at the time, both of them via unanimous decisions. However, little did the future champion know that he would get knocked down by the capoeira expert. Even though the American mixed martial artist managed to land several strikes on the Brazilian, he could not manage to claim the victory.

In the very first round of their bout, he dropped Strickland with a spinning back kick to Strickland’s head, with just over a minute left for the bell to ring. ‘Capoeira’ wasted no time in capitalising on the moment.

As soon as the American was down, dos Santos mounted Strickland landing a barrage of punches. But when ‘Tarzan’ tried to escape and recover, ‘Capoeira’ released a flurry of hammer fists on his opponent’s head. With the crowd roaring in admiration and shock, Strickland lay flat on his back receiving blow after blow, and blacked out.

The referee had no choice but to call the fight in favor of the Brazilian. He thus became the first-ever mixed martial artist to KO Sean Strickland. To celebrate, the fighter showed off some of the moves he learned training capoeira and garnered quite a bit of applause. But did you know what he had to say about Israel Adesanya’s loss against Strickland? Let’s find out.

‘Capoeira’ highlighted Israel Adesanya’s flaws after the latter’s MW title loss

Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos also pointed out the shortcomings in Israel Adesanya’s strategy in his fight against his rival, Strickland, at UFC 293. Talking to MMA Fighting in the ‘Trocação Franca’ podcast, dos Santos revealed that ‘The Last Stylebender’ simply paid the price for a bad strategy. While Adesanya had the maximum support, dos Santos picked Strickland to claim the middleweight belt.

The Brazilian fighter said that Adesanya knocked his opponents by countering their attacks. But that didn’t work with ‘Tarzan’. “He’s dangerous when he’s retreating, we saw that against [Alex Pereira] ‘Poatan.’ And if you go forward against Strickland, that’s exactly what he wants, that’s what he does best.” He claimed that Adesanya chose to fight in Strickland’s domain, which resulted in his loss.

Despite claiming a grand victory over Strickland in a fashion that sent waves throughout the world of mixed martial arts, the Brazilian chose him as the winner, while most selected Strickland as the underdog. Nevertheless, with his next fight against Brown right around the corner, the world is in speculation mode to predict who will win. Given the capoeira practitioner’s mind-blowing record in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, many fight fans seem to have chosen him to dominate the Octagon in his upcoming fight.

Who do you think would win in UFC 302, dos Santos, or Randy Brown? Do you think dos Santos could claim a victory by KO? Let us know in the comments down below.