Tag: Thiago Santos

Thiago Santos & Johnny Walker Face Off On Sep. 25th

A Brazilian extravaganza looks to explode in the light heavyweight division between two top 10 UFC contenders. Thiago Santos and fellow Brazilian Johnny Walker have verbally agreed to fight each other on September 25th according to a report on Combate….

A Brazilian extravaganza looks to explode in the light heavyweight division between two top 10 UFC contenders. Thiago Santos and fellow Brazilian Johnny Walker have verbally agreed to fight each other on September 25th according to a report on Combate. Venue and location is still unknown at this current time. Santos looks to bounce back […]

Thiago Santos Claps Back At Rakic After “Easy Win” Proclamation

At UFC 259 Thiago Santos went the distance against rising contender Aleksandar Rakic, then after the unanimous decision win Rakic has gone on social media to exclaim that the fight against the Brazilian was easy work for him. After the fight and Rakic&…

At UFC 259 Thiago Santos went the distance against rising contender Aleksandar Rakic, then after the unanimous decision win Rakic has gone on social media to exclaim that the fight against the Brazilian was easy work for him. After the fight and Rakic’s social media post, the former light heavyweight title challenger was perplexed as […]

Aleksandar Rakic Says Thiago Santos Was An ‘Easy Victory’, Marreta Responds

Aleksander RakicUFC light-heavyweight contender Aleksandar Rakic thinks his most recent fight against Thiago Santos was “easy”. Rakic and Santos squared off on the UFC 259 main card last month. The fight was eagerly anticipated by many but failed to live up to expectations. Neither, Rakic or Santos particularly impressed during the fairly uneventful three-round bout. Ultimately, […]

Aleksander Rakic

UFC light-heavyweight contender Aleksandar Rakic thinks his most recent fight against Thiago Santos was “easy”.

Rakic and Santos squared off on the UFC 259 main card last month.

The fight was eagerly anticipated by many but failed to live up to expectations.

Neither, Rakic or Santos particularly impressed during the fairly uneventful three-round bout.

Ultimately, Rakic picked up a unanimous decision victory and moved himself one step closer to a shot at UFC gold.

Rakic recently told MMA Fighting exactly why the fight didn’t deliver as expected.

“I was training for that but he didn’t come out like usual,” Rakic said. “I think I neutralized his strength with my distance and the constant pressure forward, I didn’t let him do his own thing. I picked my shots and that was enough to win the fight. If he came forward more or [was] more aggressive, the fight would be going different, you know, and I would probably knock him out or take him down and submit him. But he didn’t rush so many times forward and I picked my shots. I didn’t expect such a passive Thiago Santos but, anyways, a victory is a victory and I’m the No. 2 lightweight contender for a reason.”

“The focus was on an aggressive guy,” he continued. “I respect Thiago and I think you can respect your opponent before the fight and after the fight, but, in the cage or in the octagon, I’m not gonna respect you. And I think his problem was that maybe he was respecting me in the cage. That’s the reason he let me do my thing. It was for me, like, easy victory, because I showed maybe 60 percent of my skills.

Santos got wind of the comments from Rakic and was not happy.

“Hey @rakic_ufc Easy fight because I did not KO your ass! I understand that when that doesn’t happen it is already a victory for my opponents!”

Thiago Santos followed that up with some stats from the fight.

“Hey @rakic_ufc Why the disrespect? What do you mean easy fight? All the specialized sites gave me the strike count,” Santos wrote on Twitter. “All you did was grab and stall! You have a short memory!”

Do you think Aleksandar Rakic was disrespecting Thiago Santos by calling their fight easy?

Thiago Santos Releases Statement After Third Loss In A Row

When the smoke cleared at UFC 259, Thiago Santos and Aleksandar Rakic’s fight ended up being the Brazilian’s third consecutive loss inside the octagon. Prior to the UFC 259 pairing with Rakic, Santos had the intention of rebounding after a …

When the smoke cleared at UFC 259, Thiago Santos and Aleksandar Rakic’s fight ended up being the Brazilian’s third consecutive loss inside the octagon. Prior to the UFC 259 pairing with Rakic, Santos had the intention of rebounding after a tough return fight with Glover Teixeira. Even though many believed the fight would deliver fireworks, […]

Thiago Santos Issues Statement Following Third Consecutive Defeat

SantosThiago Santos had no excuses for his latest setback. Santos suffered a unanimous decision defeat to Aleksandar Rakic at UFC 259 last night. Many were expecting the contest to be a barnburner and an explosive way to open up the stacked main card. Instead, it was a drab three-rounder with very little action from both […]

Santos

Thiago Santos had no excuses for his latest setback.

Santos suffered a unanimous decision defeat to Aleksandar Rakic at UFC 259 last night. Many were expecting the contest to be a barnburner and an explosive way to open up the stacked main card.

Instead, it was a drab three-rounder with very little action from both sides with Rakic doing just about enough to get the verdict of the three judges.

Santos — who was visibly disappointed at the result — is now on an unwanted three-fight losing streak and he could only blame himself for letting it go to the judges.

“No excuses, I left it up to the judges, it was my fault.”

Santos moved up to light heavyweight in 2018 and went on a three-fight winning streak to earn a shot at then champion Jon Jones in 2019. Despite being compromised for majority of the fight due to multiple injuries, Santos put up a good showing with many believing he did enough to win only for him to lose a close split decision.

He would then undergo double surgery and return against Glover Teixeira last year. Despite knocking his fellow Brazilian down twice, Santos would eventually get taken down and get submitted by the veteran.

And this latest setback doesn’t bode well for Santos and his hopes of becoming a champion — especially as he just turned 37. Hopefully, he will return stronger as he is still one of the most exciting fighters on the roster.

What did you make of the performance of Santos?

Thiago Santos Says He Needs ‘A Good Performance’ At UFC 259 To Be Considered For A Title Shot

Thiago Santos knows he needs to get back into the win column on Saturday night. Opening up the main card of UFC 259, Santos is set to face Aleksandar Rakic in a very intriguing bout. The Brazilian is coming off back-to-back losses to Jon Jones for the …

Thiago Santos knows he needs to get back into the win column on Saturday night. Opening up the main card of UFC 259, Santos is set to face Aleksandar Rakic in a very intriguing bout. The Brazilian is coming off back-to-back losses to Jon Jones for the belt and Glover Teixeira in his return fight […]