Junior Dos Santos vs. Stipe Miocic set as co-main event for UFC 173 in May
Former UFC heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos will face surging top 10 fighter Stipe Miocic in the new co-main event for UFC 173 in Las Vegas following an announcement on Monday.
UFC officials confirmed the bout after an initial report from The Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Dos Santos (16-3) will fight for the first time since losing his bid to regain the heavyweight title at UFC 166 when he lost to current champion Cain Velasquez by TKO, marking his second defeat to the American Kickboxing Academy fighter. Outside of his two losses to Velasquez, Dos Santos has been virtually untouchable in his UFC career going 10-0 with stoppage victories in eight of those bouts.
It will be a tall test to tackle, but Ohio fighter Stipe Miocic (11-1) will look to beat Dos Santos and pick up the biggest win of his young career since moving to the UFC in 2011.
Miocic has been a star on the rise over the last few years with only one blemish on his record to date. The former Cleveland State wrestler and baseball player has proven to be a tough matchup for anyone in the heavyweight division and has recently picked up back-to-back wins over Roy Nelson and Gabriel Gonzaga.
Now Miocic has the opportunity of a lifetime to capitalize on a co-main event at UFC 173 when he faces Dos Santos in Las Vegas.
UFC 173 goes down May 24 from the MGM Grand Garden Arena with middleweight champion Chris Weidman facing Lyoto Machida in the five round main event.
