Brave Combat Federation’s lightwieght champion, Luan Santiago, feels like he is already fighting for the best promotion in the world,
The newly crowned Brave Combat Federation lightweight champion, Luan Santiago, feels like it is just a matter of time before the world realizes he is the best 155lb athlete on the planet.
Fresh off a highlight-reel spinning elbow knockout win over Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady, where ‘Miau’ became the new lightweight champion, Santiago tells Bloody Elbow the winning shot was far from a luckly shot, but trained specifically to catch his opponent the way it did, as can be seen on AD Sports’ Twitter account.
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“To win in your opponent’s backyard is more enjoyable in any sport,” Santiago said. “Everyone was asking if I pulled that elbow like a spur-of-the-moment thing, but when I got to the locker room, it was really funny. All fighters were flabbergasted about, they said ‘Damn, brother, we saw you train warming up all those moves’. In fact, I trained that for three more months because we know we could catch him when he moved away, so I cut to the side to throw my elbow.”
In last loss, an interim title fight against UFC veteran Lucas Martins, Santiago ended up losing via TKO in the fifth round when he suffered an arm injury and was unable to continue. Despite the unfortunate loss, Luan says he has no intentions to rematch Martins and has moved on to a different path.
“I have other plans and so does he. We are on different paths now. I lost, came back and returned to where I belong. Besides, we have a friendship, so we won’t let that happen. “
Despite Martins being the only former UFC fighter Santiago has ever faced, the 24-year-old is confident he would be able to stand against the best UFC fighters if given the chance, while also claiming the rest of the world will soon find out about his talent.
“Maybe (I’ll go to the UFC),” Santiago said. “The best fighters are in Brave, so it’s obvious I would massacre them one by one. 80% of the UFC fighters are not as technical as the ones on the Brave roster. If I cross over, it’ll be just to confirm what I’m saying now. It’s a matter of time before I show the world that me and my team are on the top of the weight class.”
Luan Santiago (14-3) is on a two-fight winning streak, with an unanimous decision win over Djamil Chan, in November 2018, before the knockout win over Al-Selwady this past April.