Report: UFC Fight Night 118 gets surprising headliner as Thiago Santos takes on debuting Polish star

UFC Fight Night 118, which goes down in Gdansk, Poland on October 21, has received it’s headlining bout, per Combate.com. This headliner is one that’s likely to leave more than a few fans scratching their heads. In one corner, we’ll have Brazilian knockout artist Thiago Santos, who currently holds the number-15 spot in the UFC middleweight rankings. In the other, we’ll have debuting Polish veteran Michal Materla.

Shortly after Combate reported this fight, MMAJunkie.com confirmed the booking with a UFC official, though they did not confirm Combate’s claim that the fight will serve as Gdansk’s headliner.

When we last saw the 33-year-old Thiago Santos in the Octagon, he extended his current win-streak to two with a second-round TKO of Gerald Meerschaert. His next most recent win saw him blast Jack Marshman with a gorgeous, second-round wheel kick. Santos’ last loss occurred in September of 2016, when he was submitted by Eric Spicely. This defeat was preceded by a loss to Gegard Mousasi, which was in turn preceded by defeats of Andy Enz, Steve Bosse, Elias Theodorou and Nate Marquardt. He’s 15-5 overall.

Materla, who has long been considered one of the top middleweights outside the UFC, last fought in October of 2016 when he turned the lights off on controversial leg-lock specialist Rousimar Palhares. His next most recent win occurred in May of 2016 when he scored a first-round TKO win over Antoni Chmielewski. These wins were preceded by a loss to the highly regarded Mamed Khalidov. Other highlights of Materla’s career include wins over Tomasz Drawl, Jay Silva (twice), Kendall Grove, Rodney Wallace and Matt Horwich. He’s 24-5 in sum.

Other highlights of the UFC Fight Night 118 lineup announced so far include a featherweight bout between Artem Lobov and Andre Fili, and a light heavyweight bout between Jan Blachowicz and Devin Clark.

Who do you think wins this Thiago Santos vs. Michal Materla middleweight scrap?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 8/30/2017.