Thiago Santos, Yana Kunitskaya plan on relocating together full time to Florida

Once he’s able to leave Brazil, UFC light heavyweight Thiago Santos plans on moving to the U.S full time.

Santos, alongside his girlfriend, UFC bantamweight Yana Kunitskaya, are currently in Rio de Janeiro, and the couple plans to make a permanent move to South Florida to train at American Top Team.

Growing up in sunny Rio has Santos already prepared for the Florida lifestyle.

“I want to move to USA with Yana, and we’re gonna stay there for training, for preparing,” Santos said. “Try to live there. I like Florida. I like USA. I feel good. I feel comfortable in Florida, American Top Team. I like the weather. I like that city. I feel if I stay in Rio I have the beach, good weather, sun, so I have some experience. … I invited Yana to go to Florida, and she agreed, so we’re gonna move there.”

Santos has been in isolation with Kunitskaya in his home, as the two have been trying to get some training in together. Kunitskaya is scheduled to face Ketlen Vieira on Aug. 1, whereas Santos, who challenged Jon Jones for the 205-pound title last time out, hopes to get another shot at gold.

“Everything is so good for us, especially this hard time with coronavirus, with quarantine, so we train together alone,” Santos said. “Just a few days ago, we started training with some more people, some partners, but when we started training, we started training alone, and this helped us a lot because we can still train. She’s big, too. She can train with me.”