Junior dos Santos-Stipe Miocic Set for UFC 173 Co-Headliner in Las Vegas

Junior dos Santos will meet another top-10 opponent in a pivotal bout. | Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com

UFC officials confirmed the booking after an initial report from the Las Vegas Review-Journal. UFC 173 takes place at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and is headlined by a middleweight title bout between Chris Weidman and Lyoto Machida.

Dos Santos has not competed since absorbing a one-sided beating in his third matchup against Cain Velasquez at UFC 166, where he lost via fifth-round TKO. In 12 Octagon appearances, the Brazilian’s only two defeats have come at the hands of the reigning heavyweight champion. “Cigano” has finished his other 10 UFC opponents with strikes, including Velasquez in their first bout at UFC on Fox 1. The Brazilian has bested a who’s who of heavyweight talent during his UFC tenure, including Fabricio Werdum, Frank Mir, Roy Nelson, Shane Carwin, Mark Hunt, Stefan Struve, Mirko Filipovic and Gabriel Gonzaga.

Miocic has been victorious in five of six outings with the Las-Vegas based promotion, with his only setback coming against Struve at UFC on Fuel TV 5. The Ohio native has won his last two fights, taking unanimous verdicts over Nelson and Gonzaga.