Former UFC Heavyweight Champion To Try His Hand At Boxing

One of the greatest UFC fighters of all time will try his hand at a new craft.

Boxing management company S-JAM announced on Tuesday that they have signed former UFC heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos.

Dos Santos, 37, has never boxed professionally, but holds the longest winning streak in UFC heavyweight history. Dos Santos' nine-fight win streak began with a TKO victory over Fabrício Werdum at UFC 90 on Oct. 25, 2008, his debut in Dana White's promotion. It would last another four years until Dos Santos suffered a unanimous decision defeat at the hands of Cain Velasquez at UFC 155 on Dec. 29, 2012.

Dos Santos remarkably only held the heavyweight championship once, for just over a year. He defeated Velasquez via knockout during their first fight on Nov. 12, 2011 to win the belt, but defended it just once, a TKO victory over Frank Mir, before dropping it to Velasquez in the rematch.

"Cigano" never reached the heights of 2008-2012 again, losing his final four fights in the UFC for a career record of 21-9. Dos Santos will make the switch to boxing with high aspirations.

"Anthony Joshua, Deontay Wilder, Tyson Fury - I really believe at some point it's going to happen. I'm going to have a big fight against one of these guys and I'll beat them up," Dos Santos said.

Dos Santos is confident, although it's likely he'll have to pick up a few wins before he faces the likes of Joshua, Wilder and Fury. Dos Santos has recently been seen on TNT, making appearances for All Elite Wrestling. His last appearance with the professional wrestling promotion came on the Oct. 15 edition of AEW Rampage, teaming up with Scorpio Sky and Ethan Page to take on Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara and Jake Hager.

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Nick Geddes is a 2021 graduate of the University of Central Florida with a bachelor’s degree in Journalism. A life-long sports enthusiast, Nick shares a passion for sports writing and is proud to represent OutKick.