Miocic vs. Dos Santos Pick
The UFC Heavyweight Championship is up for grabs in the main even of UFC 211 when Stipe Miocic defends his championship against Junior dos Santos.
According to oddsmakers at Bovada.lv, Miocic is favored to successfully defend his championship, as he is getting odds of -140 to win. Junior dos Santos is listed with odds of +110 to prevail. These two will meet in the main event of UFC 211, which takes place from the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. The main card airs live on PPV at 10PM ET.
Miocic (16-2) is the defending champion after taking the title back in May of last year with a KO win over Fabricio Werdum. He has defend the title once, defeating Alistair Overeem back in September by first-round KO. He has won his last three fights by KO in the first round. His last loss was actually to Junior dos Santos, by unanimous decision, back in December of 2014. Miocic is a powerful striker, but also is an underrated grappler. He is a trim heavyweight and can push a good pace without tiring.
JDS (18-4) is a former UFC champion, but he hasn’t been terribly active since losing the belt in 2012. He has fought five times since then, going 3-2. His last fight was a five-round, unanimous decision win over Ben Rothwell in April of last year. Like Miocic, JDS is a great striker. He is considered to have arguably the best boxing in the heavyweight division. However, dos Santos has struggled with fatigue in his career and he has somewhat of a suspect chin.
Dos Santos may have won the first meeting, but I think Miocic claims the rematch. Miocic has improved a great deal since their first meeting. The first loss really seem to spark a lot of growth in him. His striking is very crisp and he shows a lot of patience while looking for his opening. JDS still has great power, but he hasn’t fought in over a year and should have some rust. That won’t play well against a man with three straight first-round knockouts.
UFC 210 FREE PICK: STIPE MIOCIC -140