Former UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos is the latest big-name addition to the MVP MMA: Rousey vs. Carano event on Netflix in May, as the full 11-fight card has now been revealed.

The 42-year-old dos Santos will be fighting former Olympic karate gold-medalist Robelis Despaigne, who also had a brief stint in the UFC a couple of years ago.

Dos Santos won the UFC’s heavyweight title all the way back in 2011 with a KO victory over Cain Velasquez, and had one successful defense against Frank Mir via TKO the following year, before losing out to Velasquez in their rematch.

Dos Santos would fight for the belt on two more occasions, but never managed to reclaim it and eventually left the UFC back in 2020 after a major slump in form saw him suffer four TKO losses in a row.

That seemed like the end of the line for JDS, but a couple of years later he signed for Eagle FC, but suffered a TKO loss to Yorgan de Castro due to a shoulder injury in his only fight for the promotion.

Dos Santos has since got back on track though with notable wins over other former UFC stars Fabricio Werdum and Alan Belcher in bareknuckle MMA bouts in the Gamebred promotion.

Now JDS returns to face Despaigne, who arrived in the UFC in 2024 with a big reputation as an imposing physical specimen with a decorated karate background and 5-0 MMA record that had seen him stop several opponents in mere seconds.

And sure enough, in Despaigne’s UFC debut he TKO’d Josh Parisian in 18 seconds, but the wheels soon fell off as his complete lack of a ground game resulted in him suffering back-to-back unanimous decision losses in his next two fights, leading to his release.

Despaigne has since returned to his roots by competing for the Karate Combat promotion, where he’s gone 7-0 and won their heavyweight title late last year with a head kick KO victory over Sam Alvey.

The other notable addition to the MVP MMA line-up features another ex-UFC fighter Muhammad Mokaev going up against Adriano Moraes.

On a main card filled with aging veterans at the end of their careers, Mokaev is a welcome addition as he’s a highly-regarded 25-year-old with an undefeated 16-0-1 career record.

In fact, Mokaev was becoming a major force in the UFC’s flyweight division just a few years ago, winning all seven of his fights there, including against the likes of Manel Kape, Alex Perez and Tim Elliott.

However, Mokaev was unexpectedly released from the UFC under a dark cloud in 2024 after several undisclosed behind-the-scenes issues led to Dana White and the matchmakers no longer wanting to have anything to do with him.

Mokaev has since gone on to win three more fights on the regional scene, and now goes up against the 37-year-old Moraes, who is a three-time ONE FC flyweight champion, but is coming off three losses in his last four appearances.

Check out all the new additions to the MVP MMA card below for a show that will be headlined by the return of women’s MMA legends Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano.

MVP MMA: Rousey vs. Carano Fight Card

Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano
Nate Diaz vs. Mike Perry
Francis Ngannou vs. Philipe Lins
Junior dos Santos vs. Robelis Despaigne
Muhammad Mokaev vs. Adriano Moraes

Salahdine Parnasse vs. Kenneth Cross
Lorenz Larkin vs. Jason Jackson
Aline Pereira vs. Jade Masson-Wong
David Mgoyan vs. Albert Morales
Namo Fazil vs. Jake Babian
Chris Avila vs. TBD