Top UFC Light-heavyweight contender Thiago Santos expects to earn himself a title shot with a highlight reel win over Glover Teixeira at UFC Vegas 13.
Speaking during the event’s media day Santos was asked his thought on the UFC looking to book Middleweight champion Israel Adesanya against Light-Heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz early next year, resulting in this main event seemingly not being for an immediate title shot.
“Yeah, we’ll see what’s going to happen after that fight,” Santos said regarding the matchup. “First I need to beat Glover Teixeira, I’m going to do by best and show everyone that I’m back and that I’m really number one contender and yeah, we will see what’s going to happen after I fight. I believe whoever wins the fight deserves to go for the title shot.”
“”I know Dana White spoke about Adesanya but no one knows, no one has contracts I need to do my best, and Saturday I need to win my fight and we will see.””
Santos himself has a history with the current Light-heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz, facing off against him in February of 2019 capturing the victory by stunning knockout in the third round. Since then Santos went on to a failed title shot against Jon Jones in which he severely injured his knee and was forced to take a long lay off from the sport.
His return bout against Glover Teixeira comes months in the making originally being scheduled as the main event on two prior dates, each being canceled and both fighters respectively tested positive for COVID-19.
Glover Teixeira is coming off a dominant victory over Anthony Smith in May, this fight saw the 41-year-old add to his winning streak taking it to a total of four coming into this weekend’s main event.
Do you think a win could put either fighter into a title shot?