Report: Junior Dos Santos’ UFC Return Set For July

According to a report from ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, a heavyweight fight between former UFC heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos and Blagoy Ivanov has been scheduled to main event a UFC Fight Night card on July 14, 2018 from the CenturyLink Arena in Boise, Idaho.

Dos Santos hasn’t competed since suffering a vicious first-round TKO loss to champion Stipe Miocic last May at UFC 211. He was then scheduled to take on Francis Ngannou late last year, but was forced to withdraw from the fight after it was announced that he had been flagged by USADA (United States Anti-Doping Agency) for a possible anti-doping violation.

Earlier this month, however, USADA deemed that the positive test stemmed from a contaminated supplement. Dos Santos agreed to serve a retroactive six-month suspension, making him eligible to compete again immediately.

Prior to his loss to Miocic, Dos Santos had split wins and losses in his last six bouts, earning victories over Mark Hunt, Miocic and Ben Rothwell, while suffering losses to Cain Velasquez and Alistair Overeem.

Ivanov, meanwhile, will be making his UFC debut on the card. The 31-year-old, who has competed in Bellator, World Series of Fighting and PFL, is currently riding a five-fight winning streak.

The UFC has not yet officially confirmed the bout.