1. Junior dos Santos vs. Stipe Miocic
UFC on Fox 13
Dec. 13, 2014 | Phoenix
Not much separated dos Santos from Miocic after five rounds. Beaten to a bloody pulp, the tough-minded and durable dos Santos leaned exclusively on his boxing skills in capturing a unanimous decision from the Strong Style Fight Team standout at the US Airways Center. All three judges sided with dos Santos: 48-47, 49-46 and 49-46. Miocic had never looked better. He cracked the favored dos Santos repeatedly with right hands, landed beautiful power punches while exiting clinches and mixed in a second-round takedown. Miocic had the Brazilian reeling more than once with high-velocity shots but could not find a way to put away the former champion. Dos Santos briefly floored him with a counter left hook in the third round, executed an exquisite trip takedown in the fourth and scored with a stinging jab throughout. He also invested heavily in body shots with left hooks and straight rights -- a strategy that seemed to take the spring out of Miocic’s step late in the fight. Both men had their moments in the fifth despite being bloodied and exhausted, closing out a memorable 25-minute confrontation.
The Sherdog Top 10 series is voted upon by a panel of Sherdog.com staff members and contributors: Jordan Breen, Tristen Critchfield, Mike Fridley, Brian Knapp, Drake Riggs and Mike Sloan.