Thiago Santos News

Adam D Martin - October 25, 2021

Johnny Walker fired back at critics of the Thiago Santos fight, saying his critics are the “ones that sit on the couch to drink beer.” Walker and Santos met earlier this month in the main event of UFC Vegas 38. In a light heavyweight battle between two knockout artists, fans were expecting both men to go for broke and for someone to get brutally knocked out. But the fight was anything but, as both men showed an incredible amount of respect for each other. The two Brazilians went the full 25 minutes, with Santos edging out a close decision on the judges’ scorecards.

Adam D Martin - October 7, 2021

UFC women’s strawweight contender Mackenzie Dern promised the Marina Rodriguez fight will be better than Johnny Walker vs. Thiago Santos. Dern takes on Rodriguez in the five-round women’s 115lbs headliner of this Saturday’s UFC Vegas 39 card. This is an important fight in the division as both Dern and Rodriguez are closing in on a title shot, so an impressive win could very well earn them a crack at the belt. But more than anything, Dern says she just wants to put on a good fight for the fans.

Adam D Martin - October 7, 2021

UFC light heavyweight contender Johnny Walker was “scared as hell” against Thiago Santos at UFC Vegas 38, says his opponent’s coach. In what was expected to be a slugfest between two Brazilian KO artists, the fight was anything but. Both Walker and Santos were content to stand on the outside and essentially spar for five rounds, with Santos earning a unanimous decision victory at the end of the 25 minutes. It was not the fight that the fans expected and many of them took to social media to vent their complaints following the fight. But while many have put the blame on Santos for making it a tactical fight, his coach believes that it is actually Walker’s fault that it was.

Cole Shelton - October 4, 2021

In the main event of UFC Vegas 38, top-10 light heavyweights collided as Thiago Santos was looking to return to the win column opposite Johnny Walker. Santos entered the fight coming off a lackluster decision loss to Aleksandar Rakic at UFC 259. Prior to that, he was submitted by Glover Teixeira and before that, lost a split decision to Jon Jones for the belt. Walker, meanwhile, hadn’t fought in a year but was coming off a TKO win over Ryan Spann to get back into the win column.

Adam Martin - October 3, 2021

UFC light heavyweight contender Thiago Santos issued a statement following his UFC Vegas 38 unanimous decision win over Johnny Walker. Santos and Walker surprisingly went the full five rounds in the headliner of Saturday’s UFC Vegas 38 card. It was not a great fight as neither fighter engaged all that much during their 25 minutes in the cage and it was a very close fight for the judges to score. In the end, it was Santos getting his hand raised by unanimous decision, snapping his three-fight losing skid in the process. Taking to his social media following the big win, Santos reacted to his victory over Walker by issuing a statement regarding this much-needed UFC win.

Adam D Martin - October 3, 2021

UFC light heavyweight contender Johnny Walker issued a statement following his UFC Vegas 38 unanimous decision loss to Thiago Santos. Walker and Santos met in the headliner of Saturday’s UFC Vegas 38 card, but the fight did not live up to expectations. Despite between two knockout artists, both fighters fought very tentatively during their fight and the fans were not impressed with their efforts. The fight went the full 25 minutes and Santos won a unanimous decision, but it was far from impressive. Either way, it’s a win for Santos and another loss for Walker. He has now lost three of his last four fights and appears to be in serious need of a win to get back on track.

Chris Taylor - October 2, 2021

Thiago Santos is interested in fighting Jiri Prochazka next following his win over Johnny Walker in tonight’s UFC Vegas 38 event headliner. Santos (22-9 MMA) had entered tonight’s contest in hopes of snapping a three-fight losing skid. The former light heavyweight title challenger had suffered a unanimous decision loss to Aleksandar Rakic in his most previous effort at UFC 259.

Chris Taylor - October 2, 2021

Tonight’s UFC Vegas 38 event is headlined by a light heavyweight bout featuring Thiago Santos taking on Johnny Walker. Santos (21-9 MMA) will enter tonight’s contest in hopes of snapping a three-fight losing skid. The former light heavyweight title challenger suffered a unanimous decision loss to Aleksandar Rakic in his most recent effort at UFC 259.

Adam D Martin - October 1, 2021

The official weigh-ins for UFC Vegas 38 took place on Friday in Las Vegas, and 23 of the 26 fighters scheduled to compete have made weight. In the main event of the evening, Thiago Santos fights Johnny Walker in a battle of top-10 ranked light heavyweight contenders. Santos has lost his last three fights in a row but everyone recognizes him as one of the best fighters in the world at 205lbs. As for Walker, he is coming off of a knockout win over Ryan Spann in his last fight. Both fighters successfully made weight for Saturday, with Santos at 206lbs and Walker at 204.5lbs.

Cole Shelton - September 29, 2021

In the main event of UFC Vegas 38, Thiago Santos looks to snap his losing streak when he battles Johnny Walker. Ahead of the fight, Santos is a -160 favorite while the comeback on the Brazilian is +140. Ahead of the fight, BJPENN.com reached out to several pro fighters to get their prediction for the scrap. The majority believe Santos will get back into the win column in a big way as he will KO Walker.

Drake Riggs - August 16, 2021

Yana Kunitskaya is going to be taking some time away from the octagon. The No. 6 ranked UFC bantamweight contender teased her pregnancy on Sunday. On April 1, Kunitskaya and her partner, UFC light heavyweight Thiago Santos, announced a fake pregnancy for April Fool’s Day. MMA Fighting has confirmed that this time the announcement is legitimate.

Adam Martin - July 11, 2021

UFC light heavyweight contender Thiago Santos reacted after his fiancée Yana Kunitskaya got knocked out by Irene Aldana at UFC 264. Santos and Kunitskaya have been dating for several years and have been engaged since last Christmas. They both train together at American Top Team in Coconut Creek, Florida, and both are top-10 ranked fighters in the UFC. On Saturday night at UFC 264, Santos was in Kunitskaya’s corner as he always is when she suffered a tough first-round knockout loss to Aldana. Although Kunitskaya closed as the slight favorite to win the fight, she got caught with a giant left hook in the first round and then got stopped with ground and pound. It was a tough loss for “Foxy” and it must not have been easy for Santos to watch it go down.

Christopher Taylor - April 4, 2021

Thiago Santos was not happy to learn that his most recent opponent Aleksandar Rakic had referred to him as being an “easy win”. The former light heavyweight title challenger, Santos (21-9 MMA), squared off with Rakic (14-2 MMA) in the opening bout of the UFC 259 main card last month in Las Vegas.

Adam Martin - March 7, 2021

UFC light heavyweight contender Thiago Santos released a statement following his unanimous decision loss to Aleksandar Rakic at UFC 259. Santos and Rakic went three rounds in the pay-per-view opener at UFC 259, with Rakic edging out a unanimous decision at the end of 15 minutes. It wasn’t a great fight, as the former training partners at American Top Team didn’t seem to have any urgency to hurt each other. Although the striking totals pointed to Santos edging Rakic out on the feet in terms of volume, the judges felt Rakic landed the harder shots and he took the decision.

Christopher Taylor - March 6, 2021

A key light heavyweight bout featuring former title challenger Thiago Santos taking on Aleksandar Rakić kicked off tonight’s UFC 259 pay-per-view. Santos (21-9 MMA) was looking to snap a two-fight losing skid this evening in Las Vegas. ‘Marreta’ had most previously competed this past November, where he suffered a submission loss to surging division contender Glover Teixeira.

Tom Taylor - March 3, 2021

UFC light heavyweight contender Thiago Santos says he was not in a good head space ahead of his recent loss to Glover Teixeira. Santos met Teixeira in November. After sustaining some significant damage in rounds one and two, he was submitted by his fellow Brazilian in round three.

Adam Martin - February 21, 2021

UFC light heavyweight contender Thiago Santos congratulated his fiancée Yana Kunitskaya on her upset win over Ketlen Vieira at UFC Vegas 19. Santos was in the corner of Kunitskaya as she defeated Vieira via unanimous decision in a fight that had somewhat controversial scorecards. Though it appeared that Vieira had done enough to control Kunitskaya on the mat from top position with her grappling that she would win the decision, the judges had other ideas. Instead, the three judges unanimously agreed that Kunitskaya had done enough to win the fight. Although Vieira had the takedowns and the control time on top, Kunitskaya was working the entire fight from the bottom, and she appeared to steal the fight in the final minute when she cut Vieira open.

Adam Martin - February 12, 2021

Light heavyweight contender Aleksandar Rakic says he’s excited for his upcoming fight at UFC 259 against his former teammate Thiago Santos. Rakic takes on Santos next month in an important matchup between top-five fighters in the UFC light heavyweight division. On paper, it’s an exciting matchup between two men who love to stand and strikes. What makes it even more intriguing is that Rakic and Santos were former training partners at American Top Team in Coconut Creek, Florida. The two bought at UFC 231 in December 2018 and ended up doing some training at ATT. But according to Rakic, he’s a much better fighter now than he was back when Santos trained with him.