Junior dos Santos signs with Eagle FC, set to headline a card in May against a UFC veteran

Junior dos Santos has signed with Eagle FC.

On Wednesday, Khabib Nurmagomedov went on ESPN and announced he has signed Dos Santos to his promotion. The former UFC heavyweight champion will headline an Eagle FC card on May 20 against UFC veteran, Yorgan Se Castro. The co-main event of the card will also see a battle of ex-UFC fighters as Hector Lombard will take on Thiago Silva. The event is expected to take place at FLXcast Arena in Miami.

Junior dos Santos (21-9) is coming off four-straight stoppage losses in the UFC which in turn, resulted in him being released from the promotion. He then inked a deal with Triller after hiring Ali Abdelaziz as his manager and was supposed to box Kubrat Pulev. Yet, the event was canceled and now ‘Cigano’ is a free agent and signed with Eagle FC.

Dos Santos last fought back in December of 2020 and suffered a TKO loss to Ciryl Gane. Prior to that, he suffered stoppage losses to Jairzinho Rozenstruik, Curtis Blaydes, and Francis Ngannou. Before his ugly string of setbacks, ‘JDS’ had won three-straight fights over Derrick Lewis, Tai Tuivasa, and Blagoy Ivanov.

Junior dos Santos, Francis Ngannou — Image via @ufc on Instagram

Yorgan De Castro (8-3) went 1-3 in the UFC and was released from the promotion in 2021. De Castro earned his way into the promotion with a TKO win on the Contender Series and then scored a one-punch KO win over Justin Tafa in his debut. He then fought Greg Hardy at UFC 249 where he suffered a decision loss. De Castro then dropped a decision to Carlos Felipe and was knocked out by Jarjis Danho.

Following his release, he returned to CES and picked up a decision win before signing to Eagle FC. De Castro fought for Nurmagomedov’s promotion in January and submitted Shaun Asher but there’s no question this bout against dos Santos will be the biggest of his career.

As for the co-main event, former Bellator champion and UFC and BKFC veteran, Hector Lombard will take on UFC veteran, Thiago Silva. Lombard, who’s 44-years-old, has spent the past two years in BKFC and won the inaugural BKFC cruiserweight belt. Silva, meanwhile, is 39 and hasn’t fought since 2019. He was in the UFC from 2007 to 2013.

Who do you think will win, Junior dos Santos or Yorgan De Castro?