Junior dos Santos returned to the Octagon on Saturday evening (Dec. 13), more than a year after taking a beating from Cain Velasquez in their UFC Heavyweight title fight.
Dos Santos took on Stipe Miocic at UFC Fight Night, pulling out a unanimous decision at US Airways Center in Phoenix, AZ. All three judges scored the five-round contest for dos Santos: 49-46, 49-46 and 48-47.
However, Miocic (12-2) gave the Brazilian a battle, hurting him with big right hands and bloodying his nose and right eye… and after the scorecards were read, he immediately exited the Octagon.
“That was a tough fight,” dos Santos said, post-fight. “It’s good to come back and feel how tough it is [in here]. It’s the UFC. It’s No. 1 in the world.”
Miocic employed the same technique Velasquez used to defeat dos Santos in their two fights, continuously shooting to his legs for a take down, backing him to the fence and landing rights… surprising the victor.
“He was trying to take me down the whole time,” dos Santos said. “That surprised me a little bit because normally he doesn’t do that. He has really good boxing skills like I told you before. You can see that on my face.”
Dos Santos improves to 11-2 and edges closer to earning another shot at the title he lost to Velasquez in 2012.