What’s the blueprint to defeat former UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos? If you thought "do what Cain Velasquez did", "Cigano" might surprise you.

dos Santos returns to the Octagon on Saturday night’s UFC on FOX 13 against Stipe Miocic in Phoenix, competing for the first time since his second loss to UFC kingpin Cain Velasquez on October 2013, and he has a message for rising heavyweight Miocic.

"I believe that most of the heavyweights, based on my recent fights with Velasquez, think that the best way to fight me is put pressure the whole time, but you have to understand that Velasquez is Velasquez," dos Santos told MMAFighting.com. "Velasquez has an incredible cardio for a heavyweight. It’s hard for any other heavyweight to do what he does."

Dos Santos dominated everyone not named Cain Velasquez under the UFC banner, but has yet to display his grappling skills inside the Octagon. "Cigano" hasn’t submitted an opponent with his jiu-jitsu since his second professional MMA bout in 2006, and Miocic could be the first.

"If Miocic manages to take me down and keep me there, I won’t shy away from fighting on the ground," he said. "I will go for the submission. Maybe I’ll score my first submission victory in the UFC.

"Miocic has a good boxing and he uses that in most of his fights. I believe that he will stand for a bit, but with a plan B of putting some pressure and taking me down with his wrestling. No matter what he does, I will focus on what I am going to do."

UFC on FOX 13 will be dos Santos’ first fight since moving from Salvador to Rio de Janeiro to train at Nova Uniao with coach Andre Pederneiras, and he feels that getting out of the comfort zone to add new pieces to his arsenal will be the key on Saturday night.

"It was a complicated year for me, but I’m hungry to get back to competition, put on my best performance and get the victory," dos Santos said. "I love to fight, and I’m happy to be able to fight again. When I moved to Rio de Janeiro, my goal was to become a complete fighter, ready to fight anywhere."

"Life is evolution, especially when you’re an athlete. I have evolved a lot since I came to Rio, I see the fights from a different perspective now," he added. "You have to get out of your comfort zone to evolve, and that’s what happened to me. I hope I can show my fans how much I have evolved."

After a rough year in 2014, "Cigano" is "not even thinking about" the title. That doesn’t mean he’s not planning on getting the UFC gold back, though.

"My intention is to fight and start a win streak. I don’t choose opponents. My job is to fight and win," dos Santos said. "My goal is to be the number one, and I will work hard to get there again. I had to evolve, work on new strategies and feel good, and it happened. I’m on an excellent team and things will happen. I will get this title soon. I will win my fights and they can’t deny me another shot at the UFC title."

