Former UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos is glad USADA cleared him to fight once again.
Former UFC heavyweight champion, Junior dos Santos wants to make up for the time he lost. Away from the Octagon since May 2017, the Brazilian was found not guilty after USADA was able to prove his latest test samples were in fact contaminated, which ended his suspension and cleared ‘JDS’ to fight again immediately.
Santos’ last bout, a TKO loss to champion Stipe Miocic, left him wanting to get back in the Octagon as soon as possible. As he explained to Combate, the former champ is relieved to be cleared and already has some names in mind for his next bout.
“I had already closed a deal to fight Ngannou before all this happened. 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.”
Junior dos Santos (18-5) has been on an inconsistent run for the past few years, alternating wins and losses since 2012. The Brazilian was able to defeat Mark Hunt, Stipe Miocic and Ben Rothwell during that time, but was also bested twice by Cain Velasquez and knocked out by Alistair Overeem and Miocic.