Dana White: Junior dos Santos gets heavyweight title shot with UFC 160 win over Mark Hunt

Junior dos Santos is just one win away from a chance to regain the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) heavyweight title, according to company president Dana White.

At Saturday's UFC 159 post-fight press conference (watch it here) in Newark, N.J., White confirmed that a victory for "Cigano" over Mark Hunt at UFC 160 next month would put him in the No. 1 contenders spot in the weight class, despite the fact he is just one-fight removed from losing the belt.

The Brazilian has already twice competed against current heavyweight titleholder Cain Velasquez, splitting a pair of fights with the American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) product, the last of which saw dos Santos dominated for five rounds en route to a decision loss and his first UFC defeat at UFC 155 in Dec. 2012.

Just as it only took Velasquez one win to get back to the belt, dos Santos will get the same luxury, although his opponent is far from a pushover as Hunt is in the midst of one of the greatest career revivals in mixed martial arts (MMA) history.

It's not guaranteed a win for dos Santos would set up a trilogy fight with Velasquez, though, as the champion is also scheduled to compete at UFC 160 where he puts his belt on the line for the first time against Antonio Silva.

Dos Santos and Silva are good friends, but have said in the past they would be willing to fight each other under the right circumstances -- such as for a world championship.

UFC 160: "Velasquez vs. Bigfoot 2" goes down May 25, 2013 from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Along with the two heavyweight fights on the top of the card, Gray Maynard and T.J. Grant are set to square off with a shot at lightweight champion Benson Henderson on the line.

For more news and notes on UFC 160, check out our complete event archive here.