It was a back and forth battle that lasted much longer than most fans and pundits would likely have originally anticipated.
Despite both fighters being amongst the hardest and most technical strikers in the UFC Heavyweight division, JDS and Miocic showed a great ability to take each other’s shots as the fightwent for the full fight rounds.
The match was close, with Miocic having dominated the fight early on. However, dos Santos took advantage of a gassed Miocic (while himself being quite gassed) later on in the fight and won by unanimous decision.
With the fight and UFC on Fox 13 now over, we at Fight of the Night have decided to explore possible next fights for both winner and loser of the Main Event.
Junior dos Santos
The return of JDS after a 14-month long absence was a successful one as his hand was the one raised after the judge’s decision was read out by Bruce Buffer.
Despite the win over a game and dangerous fighter like Stipe, it can be argued that Dos Santos did not look like the same fighter who dominated fighters like Mark Hunt, Shane Carwin and Stefan Struve.
What he did show, however, was that he can still go toe to toe with top strikers, can rise up from adversity and he is still well and truly a top five fighter in the division.
However, it is highly unlikely that Dos Santos’s next fight will not be a number one contender fight given the fact that he has been dominated twicer by champion Cain Velasquez.
Fabricio Werdum was also recently crowned the UFC Heavyweight Interim Champion and will likely fight Velasquez when the champion is back from injury.
There are still a few good fights for JDS in the Heavyweight division which will help boost his stock if he is able to win them.
The first potential opponent that comes to mind is Alistair Overeem. Overeem was victorious tonight against Struve after the former Strikeforce champion smartly took the fight to the ground before finishing the ‘Skyscraper’ in the first round.
A JDS vs. Overeem fight is one that has been talked about for a while, and the two were actually schedule to face other in 2012 when Dos Santos was the UFC Heavyweight champion.
That did not occur, however, as Overeem tested positive in a random pre-drug test, and a future JDS vs. Overeem fight was called off after JDS came down with an injury.
While Overeem was also victorious tonight, his three previous losses in five fights (all of which ended via TKO) mean he is not in the title picture either. This makes a JDS vs. Overeem match up a solid next fight for both fighters.
Given the fact the fight was meant to happen twice before will get most fans interested, especially given the name value and history of both fighters.
The fact that both Dos Santos and Overeem are hard hitters who prefer the standing game will also likely make the fight an entertaining one, which will lead to more viewers tuning in.
Because of this, a JDS vs. Overeem fight would make a great Main Event fight on a Fox card or a co-Main Event on a Pay Per View card.
