While manager Alex Davis thinks his client, Thiago Santos, deserves to fight for the vacant UFC light heavyweight championship in his next fight, he has a theory as to why that’s not the case.
After Jon Jones relinquished the title, the UFC decided to book Dominick Reyes and Jan Blachowicz for the vacant 205-pound title Sept. 26, leaving Santos out of the equation. Instead, Santos will headline the UFC’s Sept. 12 event against Glover Teixeira in what is being dubbed a No. 1 contender fight.
Santos (21-7 MMA, 13-6 UFC) last competed in July 2019 when he took Jones to the brink and almost dethroned the then champion. What made Santos’ performance even more impressive is that he became the first man to take a judge’s scorecard from Jones, and he did it with serious injuries to both knees.
Since then, Santos has been sidelined after undergoing double knee surgery, and Davis thinks his forced time off is likely what made the UFC go with Reyes vs. Blachowicz, who both competed in February.
“Of course, the fighter, he thinks with his heart, he thinks he’s the one that should be going for the title, but if you look at it objectively, Thiago’s been a year without fighting,” Davis told MMA Junkie Radio. “The Glover fight had already been put together, and I guess they had to pick between Reyes and Blachowicz, and Thiago and Glover and they picked – well, first of all, what I think was in Dana (White’s) mind was doing those two fights and whoever won those fights would go for the vacant title. And then I think that they changed their mind, and they thought that Reyes vs. Blachowicz fit better their purposes. They needed a title fight.
“As far as I’m concerned, if Thiago wins, if he beats Glover, he gets the next title shot. So, yeah, would we have loved to have Thiago go straight for the title? Of course, but at the same time, you can’t really argue with Dana, with the UFC, with the matchmakers picking Reyes and Blachowicz over him because Thiago’s been a while without fighting, and they’ve been more active. So I think that that is probably the determining factor.”
Jones’ last two wins over Santos and Reyes have been two of his toughest challenges to date, but Davis thinks no one pushed Jones more than Santos did at UFC 239.
“Although, if you look at the fighters that fought Jon Jones, I think that Thiago, even with his bummed knee, he’s the guy that’s really taken it to Jon Jones,” Davis said.
Alex Davis: Thiago Santos’ inactivity likely reason for UFC light heavyweight title snub