Following a recent decision made by USADA (United States Anti-Doping Agency), former UFC heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos is eligible to compete immediately after the third-party testing organization deemed that Dos Santos’ 2017 failed drug test stemmed from a contaminated supplement.
Dos Santos hasn’t competed since suffering a thunderous first-round knockout to reigning titleholder Stipe Miocic at UFC 211 last May in Dallas, Texas. He was then scheduled to take on feared contender Francis Ngannou late last year, but that bout fell through following his failed drug test.
Now ready to return, the Brazilian has a few options on the table, but he appears to be most interested in a fight with rising contender Alexander Volkov:
“I had already closed a deal to fight Ngannou before all this happened,” Dos Santos told Combate. “He could be an option, but I think he has another fight. A rematch with Overeem could be nice, but I think he has a fight, too. I also don’t think he’d take that fight. There’s Werdum, actually there’s not, he wouldn’t take it. But I think there’s Alexander Volkov, he’s climbing the division and has no fights scheduled. That would be a perfect match-up. I know he wants to fight for the belt, so I’ll give him that feeling of what it’s like to fight for the belt.”
Volkov, a former Bellator heavyweight champion, has won four-straight fights since signing with the UFC. That streak includes decision victories over Timothy Johnson and Roy Nelson as well as highly impressive stoppage victories over Stefan Struve and Fabricio Werdum.
Dos Santos, meanwhile, had split wins and losses over his previous six bouts before meeting Miocic. That stretch included victories over Mark Hunt, Miocic and Ben Rothwell in addition to losses to Cain Velasquez and Alistair Overeem.
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