Junior dos Santos: “I’m feeling great about my knee.”

Current UFC heavyweight champ Junior dos Santos is just days away from finding out his first challenger to his title, as Brock Lesnar and Alistair Overeem will meet this Friday night in the main event of UFC 141.

For now, though, Dos Santos is rehabbing from a knee injury suffered in training for his title-fight with Cain Velasquez, a bout where “Cigano” claimed the belt with a first round strike-based stoppage.

“I’m feeling great about my knee and it’s almost 100% now I just need to restore my confidence and I’ll be better than ever,” wrote the affable Dos Santos on his Twitter account. “I’m on my way to Vegas. We have a great week ahead, I’m excited.”

Dos Santos isn’t the only UFC champion looking to return to injury, as UFC welterweight titleholder Georges St. Pierre suffered a torn ligament in his knee earlier this year and UFC middleweight ace Anderson Silva is recovering from a shoulder injury.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

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MMATraining Take: The key for dos Santos will be just what he said: restoring his confidence. The time away from the gym will put his timing off, much like it did to Velasquez in the fight with JDS. If dos Santos can get a complete and full training camp in, finding his boxing rhythm again, he should be able to come back strong.