Stipe Miocic vs. Junior Dos Santos 2 confirmed for UFC 211

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.

When we last saw Miocic in action, he made his first defense of the UFC heavyweight title with a first-round knockout of striking specialist Alistair Overeem. Prior to that, the Croatian-American talent scored a first round knockout of Fabricio Werdum to win the heavyweight crown. This win, finally, was proceeded by an additional first-round knockout, this time over former heavyweight champ Andrei Arlovski.

Dos Santos, meanwhile, was last seen in the cage in April, when he scored a lopsided decision win over the streaking Ben Rothwell. With this win, the Brazilian puncher rebounded from a knockout loss to Alistair Overeem. His most recent bout before saw him defeat Miocic by unanimous decision.

Until reports of this booking began to surface, the next heavyweight title shot was expected to go to Fabricio Werdum or Cain Velasquez. The two former champions were expected to go at it in December of 2016. Unfortunately, however, this plan was nixed when Velasquez was forced out of this bout with an injury.

At the moment, no other bouts have been confirmed for the UFC 211 lineup. This pay-per-view card will go down inside Dallas’ American Airlines Center.

Who do you think wins this Stipe Miocic vs. Junior Dos Santos rematch? Will Miocic avenge his previous loss, or does Dos Santos have the champ’s number? Sound off in the comments section, PENN Nation!

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 2/6/2017.