UFC 211 kicks off at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, TX on May 13. Stipe Miocic vs. Junior Dos Santos will be the featured headline fight of the evening, and everyone will have their eyes set on this heavyweight duel between the UFC heavyweight champ Miocic and Dos Santos. When it comes to records, Miocic stands at 16-2 and Dos Santos at 18-4.
On the books, Miocic is the favorite going in, but only marginally. Miocic, who hails from Cleveland, has a background in boxing and is also very athletic and has nicely converted these skills and abilities to create a very solid package indeed as an MMA fighter.
In 2014, it was actually Dos Santos that emerged victorious when the two fighters met. Had Miocic been able to steal the win back then, he would have been crowned the elite heavyweight. However, the fight went to the scorecards and Junior Dos Santos came out on top.
This defeat, however, has acted as a catalyst and motivated Miocic to get better. Since this loss, Miocic went on to win the title in 2016 and then successfully defended it against Alistair Overeem in September of 2016.
So what is going to happen when the two actually face off come UFC 211? Well, while Junior Dos Santos is an exceptional fighter, he is more or less the same as he was back in 2014 when he beat Miocic, but on the other hand, Miocic has visibly gotten better, way better. If we had to make a prediction, we would put our money on Miocic winning by unanimous decision.