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UFC Vegas 38 Review: What’s next for Thiago Santos?
On Saturday night, UFC Vegas 38 took place under the familiar lights of the UFC Apex, with the main event headlined by two exciting Brazilians, Thiago Santos and Johnny Walker.
Marreta came into the bout off the back of three consecutive losses, one being in his title challenge against the consensus GOAT, Jon Jones. Fighters have been cut from the promotional powerhouse for less than four consecutive losses, making it crucial for Santos to get back to winning ways.
On the other side of the Octagon stood Johnny Walker. The unorthodox striker picked up an impressive KO win in his last outing against fellow Light Heavyweight, Ryan Spann. Walker entered the fight at rank 10, with Santos occupying the 5th spot giving Walker the chance to leap frog up the rankings. There’s never a dull moment when it comes to Johnny Walker, so fireworks were to be expected.
The fight got off to an unexpected slow start with only 12 significant strikes combined landing in the first round. Normal service resumed in the second round with Santos landing a trademark left body kick, while Walker’s game plan became clear as all but one of his landed strikes were leg kicks.
Throughout the fight, Walker continued calving away at Marreta with outside leg kicks with this only being Santos’ third fight back since tearing his ACL, PCL, MCL and Meniscus back in 2019. Walker’s one dimensional game plan never truly came to fruition even though he landed over 58% of his attempted leg kicks, with people questioning coach Kavanagh’s ability to switch tactics mid fight.
Santos closed the distance well throughout the fight with patient attacks resulting in the most surprising part being that the fight went the distance.
The most refreshing part of the entire fight for many is that all three judges scored the fight the exact same, in favour of a unanimous decision win for Santos, ending his three fight skid.
So, what’s next for Thiago Santos?
Maretta had one name in his mouth after his hard earned victory, but it’s a fight that doesn’t seem very likely in current circumstances. At the post fight press conference, Thiago Santos said: “Jiri Prochazka, if he don’t want to wait for title fight, i’m here. I can fight against him, he’s a good fighter all respect to him.”
There’s another option that jumps out as beneficial for Santos, a rematch against Lionheart. Anthony Smith came up short in what became a number one contender fight with Glover Teixeira last year, losing again only three months later to Rakic. Since then, he has put together three impressive wins to catapult his name back into contention.
The two fought back in 2018 with Santos getting the upper hand, finishing the fight with his trademark body kick and finishing with ground and pound.
A win for Smith would give him redemption and another big Light Heavyweight name on his ever growing record. But a win for Santos would see him climb the rankings once more and show his fellow Light Heavyweights that he’s still a problem for anyone in the division.
News
SEAN O’MALLEY GETS THE ALL CLEAR TO BOX BY UFC
The whirlwind surrounding Ryan Garcia’s victory over Devin Haney last weekend is just beginning to settle down but it seems the controversial boxer is intent on staying in the headlines as he eyes UFC champion, Sean O’Malley.
The bizarre lead up to the fight with Haney was plagued with erratic behaviour on Garcia’s part, rumours of a mental breakdown, signs of alcohol and drug issues, and generally controversial behaviour. Garcia missed weight by 3.2lbs, and appeared to chug a beer on the scales during the weigh ins.
Entering the fight as an underdog, Garcia surprised everybody by dropping Haney three times and emerging victorious by majority decision. After the fight, Garcia insisted he drank and smoked every day in the build up to the fight and still picked up the win. This shocking turn of events has now opened up a variety of possible lucrative match ups for Garcia going forward, and it seems one MMA superstar wants a piece of that action.
The UFC hasn’t sanctioned a boxing crossover bout since Conor McGregor faced Floyd Mayweather back in 2017. ‘Suga’ Sean O’Malley has long campaigned for the opportunity to test his striking skills against Garcia, and this week on his podcast The Timbo Sugar Show, he insisted that the UFC have already given him the green light to seek out some opportunities in the boxing ring:
“A boxing fight’s possible for sure. I’m not there yet. I’ve still got to become bigger. Two more f*cking sick performances, then we’re talking about being able to do it.
O’Malley continued: “They told me ‘You can do a boxing fight, 100 percent, if it makes us enough money’. The option is there, it just has to be able to make enough money. But Ryan being a f*cking freak like that, you need two A-sides to make a f*cking Floyd v Conor fight”.
Ryan Garcia tweeted an image of himself and O’Malley this week with the caption: “RAINBOW CACA BRAIN. WANTS TO BOX. BE PREPARED TO BLEED RAINBOW”
RAINBOW CACA BRAIN
— RYAN GARCIA (@RyanGarcia) April 22, 2024
WANTS TO BOX
BE PREPARED TO BLEED RAINBOW pic.twitter.com/GGrvV7ZSCH
Sean O’Malley became the UFC’s bantamweight champion when he knocked out Aljamain Sterling at UFC 292 last August. He then defended the belt and avenged the only loss on his record when he dominated Marlon Vera over five rounds at UFC 299 in March.
News
ALEX PEREIRA REJECTS FIGHT WITH MAGOMED ANKALAEV
The next step in the fascinating UFC journey of Alex Pereira remains to be seen. ‘Poatan’ pulled off a sensational knockout finish over Jamahal Hill in the first round of their main event bout at UFC 300 to defend his light heavyweight belt.
In his post-fight interview, the Brazilian called for the opportunity to compete at heavyweight at UFC 301 which takes place in Rio De Janeiro in just a couple of weeks. UFC president Dana White seemed unenthusiastic about that idea, however, and it seems now that the dust has settled after 300, Pereira is a little more willing to take his time before signing up for his next fight.
In an interview with MMA Fighting’s Trocacao Franca podcast, Pereira was asked if he’d rather defend his 205lb title again or test the waters in the heavyweight division. He responded:
“It’s hard to answer that. I haven’t thought too much about it yet. If it’s a longer period of time, I’d obviously rather defend my belt. If it takes too long and I fight at heavyweight and there are injuries, when am I going to defend my belt? I don’t want to hold up the division.
I was imagining the best-case scenario when I called for a heavyweight fight at UFC 301, but I have two broken toes. Both feet are f*cked. It’s complicated. I don’t want to hold up the light heavyweight division. A cool scenario would have been fighting at heavyweight at 301 and then giving the opportunity to someone to fight for the light heavyweight belt next. I think that would have been cool”.
205lb contender Magomed Ankalaev has called for a fight with Pereira on the UFC’s October pay-per-view card in Abu Dhabi, but ‘Poatan’ brushed that idea off instantly, saying:
“I don’t want to fight at the end of the year. I want to fight sooner, so maybe that shows he won’t be ready. I don’t know why he said that. This guy is complicated”.
If Pereira manages to get another win under his belt and is ready to go again before the end of the year, he said he would much rather compete on the Madison Square Garden event in November, which is closer to his current home in Danbury.
“It makes total sense” he said. “Wait one more month and I’m fighting at home? It’s so much better”.
Interviews
“This Is A Stage I Have To Challenge On” – Masaaki Noiri Signs With ONE Championship
ONE Championship’s striking roster has continued to flourish in 2024, and it got even stronger this week with the announcement of another elite kickboxer putting pen to paper in the world’s largest martial arts organization. Japanese megastar Masaaki Noiri has officially inked a deal with ONE, and he’s set to add further depth to the stand-up ranks.
Noiri is a former two-division K-1 World Champion and Grand Prix Champion, and he’s also a former WBC Japanese Muay Thai Champion.
Fighting in ONE will allow him to switch between the two sports whenever he wants, and this is an exciting prospect for the 30-year-old.
“As ONE officially announced, I have signed a contract with ONE Championship, the highest stage for striking. If I want to pursue being the strongest in the world that I believe in, this is a stage I have to challenge on,” Noiri said.
“I believe ONE is the ultimate stage for striking, so I wanted to challenge myself in that ring. I’m pursuing to be the strongest in the world through martial arts, so I chose this path to test if the current Masaaki Noiri can make it in ONE.”
It would be remiss of ONE’s hottest new signing not to have World Title ambitions as he embarks on his new journey.
However, along with gold, Noiri’s looking to show the world what strikers from his country can do, and he hopes a world-class compatriot can help him in that mission.
“[My plan is] to definitely win the ONE world title,” Noiri said.
“Not just me, but together with Takeru Segawa. And we’ll prove the strength of Japanese fighters to the world.”
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