Junior dos Santos News

Tom Taylor - February 20, 2017

The last few months have been pretty crazy for former heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos. After a successful surgery mid-way through 2016, he began campaigning for a fight in the fall. When no fight materialized, he attempted to replace an injured Cain Velasquez against former champ Fabricio Werdum at December’s UFC 207. When this bout failed to come together, he accepted a fight with the much lower ranked Stefan Struve, which was expected to headline last weekend’s UFC Halifax card. Finally, when Struve pulled out of this fight with an injury, Dos Santos was pencilled in for a somewhat surprising heavyweight title shot against Stipe Miocic, who he beat back 2014.

Tom Taylor - February 8, 2017

After several previous reports, the UFC has officially announced that heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic will next defend his title against Junior Dos Santos. The pair will duke it out in the main event of UFC 211, which is scheduled for May 13 in Dallas, Texas. Miocic and Dos Santos, of course, are quite familiar with each other. In December of 2014, the two dangerous heavyweights collided in an unforgettable five-round war, which Dos Santos ultimately won by decision.

Tom Taylor - February 6, 2017

Late last month, reports began to surface that Stipe Miocic would next defend the UFC heavyweight title against an old foe in Junior Dos Santos, who he lost to back in December of 2014. Now, the ever-reliable Ariel Helwani of MMAFighting.com has confirmed these previous reports. The two heavyweights will do battle for gold at UFC 211 on May 13 in Dallas, Texas. The UFC is expected to officially announce this booking in the coming days.

Tom Taylor - January 24, 2017

According to reliable Brazilian MMA publication Combate, UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic will next defend his title against an old foe in Junior Dos Santos. Combate’s report says this heavyweight title fight is likely to headline UFC 211, which will occur in Dallas, Texas on May 13. Miocic and Dos Santos first met back in December of 2013. On that night, Dos Santos weathered an early storm to steal the momentum in the second half of the fight, and ultimately capture a contentious unanimous decision win. This criminally unheralded heavyweight war earned the pair Fight of the Night honors.

Tom Taylor - January 13, 2017

This February, Stefan Struve was supposed to have the opportunity to avenge one of the ugliest losses of his career: a crushing 2009 knockout dealt by Junior Dos Santos. The two heavyweights were expected to rematch on February 19 in beautiful Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Regrettably, Struve was forced out of this bout with a should injury, which means his shot at redemption at Dos Santos will have to wait. On Thursday evening, the towering Dutchman took to social media to shed some light on his injury, give a timeframe for his return, and apologize to his fans and planned opponent. His words:

Tom Taylor - January 2, 2017

With a tough 2-3 record in his last 5 fights, former UFC heavyweight champ Junior dos Santos entered his April showdown with Ben Rothwell in dire need of a win. Luckily for the Brazilian and his many fans, he was able to produce that win, bludgeoning his dangerous foe to a sound, unanimous decision. Regrettably, dos Santos sustained a shoulder injury in this bout that would ultimately require surgery. By late August, however, the former champ had been adequately patched up and was ready to return to action. So began the hunt for his next opponent.

Scott Hernandez - December 24, 2016

At one point in time, former UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos was once regarded as the ‘baddest man on the planet‘. Now, following a unanimous decision win over Ben Rothwell back in April, dos Santos will be looking to move one step closer to a heavyweight title fight when he steps into the Octagon with Stefan Struve in February. While ‘The Skyscraper’ is currently on a 2-fight win streak that has seen him KO Bigfoot Silva, and most recently submit Daniel Omielanczuk with a D’Arce choke, he is currently ranked at #11 on the UFC’s official rankings. With that being said, Junior Dos Santos, who is ranked at #4, knows the fight is a risky one. Unfortunately for ‘Cigano’ however, the rest of the heavyweight division hasn’t been chomping at the bit to share the Octagon with him.

Tom Taylor - December 14, 2016

Former UFC heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos has recently been angling for a fight with reigning champ Stipe Miocic. Apparently, however, the Brazilian striker has settled for a fight with towering Dutchman Stefan Struve. The two heavyweights will meet in the main event of the UFC’s return to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada on February 19. Dos Santos and Struve, of course, have met once before. Their first fight occurred at UFC 95, all the way back in 2009. On that night, Dos Santos earned a TKO win in a mere 54 seconds. Since that first fight, the two fighters have embarked on very different career trajectories.

Tom Taylor - November 25, 2016

Yesterday afternoon, former UFC heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos issued one of the most courteous callouts in UFC history. The recipient of this callout was current heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic, who he defeated with a narrow decision back in late 2014. If Dos Santos gets his way, this rematch with the reigning champ will occur at UFC 209 in Brooklyn in February. Hey @stipemiocicufc enjoy Thanksgiving in ur new home- hope it's filled w great food & friends. Let's fight after the holidays?Brooklyn? LMK

Tom Taylor - November 25, 2016

Yesterday, as anybody whose stomach is still full of turkey knows, was thanksgiving in the United States of America. Over the course of this November Holiday, many of the UFC’s top fighters – including several current champions – took to Twitter to explain what they’re thankful for. Fighters like UFC strawweight champ Joanna Jedrzejczyk, lightweight veteran Joe Lauzon, and welterweight contender Kamaru Usman said they were thankful for their family, friends and fans.

Russell Ess - November 24, 2016

Many people across the states are celebrating Thanksgiving today and former UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos wishes current UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic happy holidays. However, “Cigano” would love nothing more than to punch Miocic in the face again once he gets his fill of his Thanksgiving feast.

Tom Taylor - November 4, 2016

In May of this year, Croatian-American super athlete Stipe Miocic knocked out an over-aggressive Fabricio Werdum to win the UFC heavyweight title. Since then, the new champion has defended the title with a first-round knockout of heavyweight legend Alistair Overeem. After this busy stretch of action, Miocic has elected to take some time off to recharge. While he enjoys this well-deserved bit of R&R, the heavyweight division’s top contenders are all working hard to stake their claim at the next crack at his title.

Tom Taylor - October 18, 2016

In late 2011, Junior Dos Santos planted a bomb behind the ear of then heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez. A few followup ground-strikes later, and the heavyweight title was his. Given that this title-winning knockout occured in just 64 seconds, however, many fight fans felt that they hadn’t actually seen Dos Santos and Velasquez fight. We’d seen Dos Santos land the right punch at the right time, yes, but his winning so quickly deprived us of the chance to see what Velasquez was really capable of.

Scott Hernandez - September 10, 2016

Saturday night at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, hometown superstar Stipe Miocic will look to defend his UFC heavyweight title against arguably the most decorated fighter in the UFC, Alistair Overeem. Ahead of the fight, the MMA community is rather torn on who they think will fin the fight. While some believe that Overeem’s elite level striking will result in him leaving ‘The Land’ with the heavyweight strap, others believe that Miocic will continue his 3-fight win streak and retain his heavyweight strap.

Scott Hernandez - September 7, 2016

Junior dos Santos believes that USADA is the best thing to happen to the heavyweight division. In a weight class where guys are testing for performance enhancing drugs left and right, the former heavyweight champion sounded off on the topic and praised the UFC’s new drug testing policy. “Thank you for USADA! They are doing a great job,” dos Santos said on Tuesday’s edition of the MMA Hour. “We want to know who is the real champion, not those fake performances that we were seeing (for some time).”

Scott Hernandez - September 7, 2016

Not many fighters have better hands than Junior ‘Cigano’ dos Santos. The Brazilian slugger has 12 knockout victories to his name, and has put down some of the heavyweight division’s best with his hands alone. ‘Cigano’ blasted on to the scene with an uppercut knockout of eventual champion Fabricio Werdum, and showed off his slick boxing in knockouts of Cain Velasquez, Frank Mir, and Stefan Struve, amongst many others. Dos Santos even was a color commentator during the Brazilian Olympic boxing broadcast in Rio.

Chris Taylor - July 10, 2016

Former UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos took to Twitter to congratulate Brock Lesnar on his UFC 200 victory over Mark Hunt and to ask “The Beast” for a future fight: Congratulations on your victory Brock.

Chris Taylor - May 22, 2016

Former UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos picked up an impressive decision victory over Ben Rothwell in the main event of UFC Fight Night 86 this past April. Following his loss to “JDS”, Rothwell stated that taking the fight was “strategically stupid”, as dos Santos was coming off of a loss.