At one point in time, Junior dos Santos was the baddest dude on the planet.
That title has traditionally belonged to the undisputed UFC heavyweight champion and back in 2011, the Brazilian claimed it by brutally knocking out Cain Velasquez.
Velasquez entered into that bout unbeaten and full of confidence following his knockout victory over Brock Lesnar that saw him become champion. However, 64-seconds into the first round, Velasquez was waking up on the mat after being rendered unconscious by a vicious barrage of ground and pound from the Brazilian.
JDS successfully defended the strap in his first defence with a second round knockout win over Frank Mir. He dropped a decision and the belt to Velasquez in their first rematch and he has been trying his utmost to have that coveted golden strap wrapped around his waist again.
The UFC heavyweight division is a real murderers’ row at the minute with several viable options for champion Stipe Miocic to take on next. Many expect the winner of Velasquez’s bout against fellow former champion Fabricio Werdum at UFC 207 to get the next title shot, but as every fight fan is well aware, things don’t always work out as planned. All it takes is an injury, something to crop up in drug test or some other factor for a plan to fall apart.
Although he hasn’t managed to string successive wins together since 2012, dos Santos does has one thing that might separate him from the other contenders should Werdum or Velasquez be unable to take on Stipe – history. The Brazilian defeated Miocic via hard-fought unanimous decision in a five-round war at UFC on Fox 13, more than a year before the Cleveland native won the belt.
He’ll be hoping this plays into his favour when the matchmakers are weighing up all their options, because it doesn’t look like he’s going to go down the route of talking smack to try and cut a promo together, at least judging by his call-out of the champion on Twitter.
Hey @stipemiocicufc enjoy Thanksgiving in ur new home- hope it's filled w great food & friends. Let's fight after the holidays?Brooklyn? LMK
— Junior Dos Santos (@junior_cigano) November 24, 2016
A pleasantry, a holiday greeting, basically asking him to decide on the place and time, this call-out has it all.
At the time of writing, Miocic still hadn’t ‘let him know’.
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