Junior dos Santos News

Tom Taylor - August 24, 2018

Former UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos is once again in view of a heavyweight title shot, thanks to a nice decision win over Blagoy Ivanov in his last fight. And now that Daniel Cormier has defeated Stipe Miocic, who derailed dos Santos’s title dreams in 2017, the path to gold looks even clearer. In terms of his next fight, Junior dos Santos has a few options. One option is rising Australian contender Tai Tuivasa, who he’s gone back-and-forth with on Twitter. Another, he believes, is former champion Cain Velasquez, who he’s 1-2 with across three previous bouts.

Tom Taylor - August 9, 2018

Rising heavyweight contender Tai Tuivasa is looking for a fight, and one of the potential opponents he’s had his sights set on of late is former heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos. On Wednesday, Tai Tuivasa took to Twitter, where he implied that Junior dos Santos had turned down a fight with him. This Tweet then called for a consolation fight with Marcin Tybura.

Tom Taylor - July 15, 2018

Last night, in the main event of UFC Boise, former UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos stepped into the Octagon to battle former World Series of Fighting champion Blagoy Ivanov, who was making his anticipated UFC debut. The bout marked dos Santos’ first fight after a lengthy SNAFU with USADA, in which he was ultimately deemed innocent, but suspended anyway. For this reason, it was extra crucial that dos Santos pick up a win if he hoped to reestablish himself as one of the heavyweight division’s best. In the end, dos Santos earned his sorely-needed win, out-fighting the debuting Ivanov to a unanimous decision victory. Having reaffirmed himself as one of the game’s premier heavyweights, dos Santos is now hoping to participate in a number-one-contender fight with former champion Stipe Miocic.

Chris Taylor - July 14, 2018

A key heavyweight scrap between former UFC champion Junior Dos Santos and promotional newcomer Blagoy Ivanov served as the headliner of tonight’s UFC Boise event. The former World Series of Fighting heavyweight champion, Blagoy Ivanov (16-1 MMA), entered tonight’s main event fight on a five fight win streak.

Tom Taylor - July 2, 2018

Last year, Junior dos Santos was notified of a potential violation by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). Ultimately, dos Santos was cleared of any wrong-doing, as it was  deemed he’d ingested a tainted supplement — but only after a nightmarish few months of investigations into his case. In the wake of this debacle with USADA, dos Santos is dreading the possibility of the whole situation repeating itself. In his eyes, if it happened once, it could happen again.

Drake Riggs - April 30, 2018

A big return and a big debut are set to happen all at once. It was announced last week that former UFC heavyweight champion, Junior Dos Santos was one among three fighters to have their USADA suspensions lifted. And now he’s all ready to get back in the mix.

Drake Riggs - April 23, 2018

Following Josh Barnett’s potentially groundbreaking reprimanding from USADA comes three more cases that have been reduced resulting in fighting freedom. Most notably is the former UFC heavyweight champion, Junior “Cigano” Dos Santos who last fought at UFC 211 against Stipe Miocic in May of last year. The man often referred to as JDS was quickly booked to return for UFC 215 against the highly dangerous, Francis Ngannou. That was until Dos Santos was pulled for his USADA violation that has now been confirmed as a result of tainted supplements(as are the two others’).

Justin Golightly - October 13, 2017

After losing his second fight with Stipe Miocic, Junior dos Santos was eager to step into the Octagon with rising star Francis Ngannou in his journey back to a title fight. Unfortunately, he became one of the victims of USADA. He was notified of a potential anti-doping violation and pulled out of the card. Eventually, Ngannou found an opponent later for UFC 218, but dos Santos is stuck on the sidelines. He recently opened up about the process and how it’s been so devastating for him. “At first I was devastated. I’ve been in favor of USADA, I’ve always said how much I support it, how much I want a drugless sport, a fair sport. I’ve always been clean, so my mind is at ease. Everything is under investigation, now, but that’s another problem, because I have no idea where this came from and it’s up to me to prove my innocence and that’s kind of weird. At first I used to think ‘Why is USADA there? For cheaters or for the ones who play by the rules end up as victims?’ I’m obviously a victim of a situation that I don’t what it is.”

Tom Taylor - August 23, 2017

Though there was no UFC event last weekend, the UFC has updated it’s official rankings. The changes to the rankings, however, are limited to the heavyweight division. The reason for these changes can be attributed to the recent potential anti-doping violation of former champion Junior Dos Santos. Dos Santos was flagged by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), the organization charged with drug-testing in the UFC, and pulled from his planned UFC 215 showdown with red hot contender Francis Ngannou as a result. The former champion has now been removed from the UFC heavyweight rankings as a result.

Tom Taylor - August 20, 2017

One of the most anticipated features of UFC 215, which is scheduled for September 9 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, was a heavyweight tilt pitting former champion Junior Dos Santos against surging contender Francis Ngannou. Regrettably, this fight was nixed when Dos Santos was notified of a potential anti-doping violation. Dos Santos’ team was quick to maintain his innocence in the wake of this news, and now, the fighter himself as done the same. In a statement issued on Instagram, Dos Santos assured, “the truth will prevail.”

Justin Golightly - August 19, 2017

It was bound to happen. Too long has gone between a major UFC fighter getting flagged for a potential doping violation, so Junior dos Santos had to break the cycle. That was a poor choice of words, considering what dos Santos popped for was a substance called hydrochlorothiazide, which is a diuretic banned by USADA because it can be used as a masking agent. According to JDS’ management, they have no idea where the substance came from and have released a statement on the latest news. Portion of a second statement from Junior dos Santos’s management on USADA situation. pic.twitter.com/kKWTiQkgsq

Chris Taylor - August 18, 2017

Former UFC heavyweight champion is out of his scheduled UFC 215 bout with surging division contender Francis Ngannou. “JDS” was flagged by USADA for a potential anti-doping violation and thus removed from the September 9 fight card.

Tom Taylor - May 29, 2017

According to a report from Ariel Helwani, streaking heavyweight contender Francis Ngannou could return to the Octagon this August against his biggest test yet: former UFC heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos. The bout is being targeted for UFC 215, which is scheduled for August 19 in Seattle, Washington. UFC would like to book Francis Ngannou vs. Junior dos Santos for the yet-to-be announced 8/19 PPV, per sources, but it’s not done yet.

Scott Hernandez - May 27, 2017

Just two weeks ago, former UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos found himself knocked out by Stipe Miocic in a failed bid for the UFC heavyweight title. Despite just being knocked out two weeks ago, the UFC is already apparently targeting dos Santos’ next fight.

Tom Taylor - May 14, 2017

Last night, in the main event of UFC 211, former UFC heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos failed to reclaim the title, as he succumbed to first round strikes dealt by reigning champ Stipe Miocic. Despite this lopsided loss, an ever classy Dos Santos joined the media post fight to discuss his performance. Unsurprisingly, he was not happy.

Chris Taylor - May 13, 2017

Pros react to Stipe Miocic’s big win at UFC 211 Stipe Miocic successfully defended his UFC heavyweight championship tonight in Dallas, defeating former division title holder Junior Dos Santos via first-round TKO in the evenings main event.

Scott Hernandez - May 13, 2017

Saturday night, UFC 211 will go down from Dallas, Texas, where UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic will put his title on the line for the second time as he faces former heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos in what could tie him for the most consecutive heavyweight title defenses.

Scott Hernandez - May 4, 2017

UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic is currently gearing up for his upcoming title defense against Junior dos Santos this Saturday at UFC 211, where he is hoping to avenge his December 2014 loss to Dos Santos that saw his 3-fight winning streak end. Now, with Miocic reigning as the heavyweight champion, he is looking to pick up his second straight title defense, which would tie him for the most heavyweight title defenses. Ahead of his rematch with Dos Santos, Stipe Miocic spoke on the UFC 211 media conference call to explain what will be different about this fight with JDS, and why he will be the longest reigning heavyweight champion: