Stipe Miocic to defend UFC heavyweight title against Junior dos Santos at UFC 211

Hard-hitting heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic will defend his title against Junior dos Santos on May 13 at UFC 211 in Dallas, a source close the fight told Yahoo Sports on Monday.

The bout was first reported by Combate.com. The UFC, however, has not yet officially announced the showdown.

Miocic (16-2) and dos Santos will be meeting for the second time inside the Octagon. Dos Santos walked away with a tightly contested unanimous decision during the first fight, which took place Dec. 13, 2014, at UFC on FOX 13 in Phoenix.

While the judges didn’t see the fight in favor of Miocic that evening, his fortunes have changed significantly since. The Northeast Ohio native has won four in a row, including a first-round KO of then-titleholder Fabricio Werdum in May 2016 to claim the championship belt.

In his most recent outing, Miocic made quick work of Alistair Overeem. He ended the former Strikeforce champ’s night at 4:27 of the opening round.

The Octagon hasn’t been as kind to dos Santos as of late. In his immediate fight after beating Miocic, dos Santos (18-4) was KO’d in the second round by Overeem. He’d rebound with a unanimous decision over Ben Rothwell.

When Miocic enters the cage for his rematch with dos Santos, he will have a chance to do something no other heavyweight champion has since Cain Velasquez captured the title in Dec. 2012 — successfully defend the belt twice consecutively.

Randy Couture, Tim Sylvia and Brock Lesnar (interim) are the only other UFC heavyweight titleholders to accomplish this feat.