COCONUT CREEK, Fla. – Thiago Santos isn’t getting down on himself despite a string of results not going his way.
Santos (21-9 MMA, 13-8 UFC), a former UFC light heavyweight title challenger, has gone from taking Jon Jones to the first split decision of his career in July 2019 to sitting on a three-fight losing skid as the middle of 2021 approaches. Those losses came to Jones, Glover Teixeira and Aleksandar Rakic, though, so it’s hard for “Marreta” to feel like he’s on a downward trajectory.
“I feel I’m going up and not down,” Santos recently told MMA Junkie. “Sometimes you win fights, but your understanding goes down. This isn’t what happened to me. I feel better every fight, even if the judges give me the loss (in the last fight with Rakic).”
In terms of his mind, Santos feels as though he’s a vault. It’s his body that’s hindered him more than anything. He suffered severe injuries to both legs in his UFC 239 bout with Jones and was forced out for 15 months due to a double knee surgery. He came back and lost a wild fight to Teixeira by submission, then turned around and dropped a lackluster decision to Rakic.
When he spoke to MMA Junkie, Santos had a cast on his arm due to a wrist injury he said has bothered him the past two fights, and he’s hoping to avoid surgery and return to the octagon in July or August.
The Brazilian isn’t happy with how his most recent fight with Rakic played out, and he’s hopeful to right the ship.
“My last fight was absolutely boring,” Santos said. “People say, ‘That fight was boring, I wanted an aggressive fight.’ But sometimes it’s about the style. I thought he would come more aggressive to me. I like when people try to put pressure on me. But I feel good. I feel better than my fight against Glover. I’m going up and not down. I feel better, more comfortable inside the octagon. I thought I won the fight, but unfortunately the judges saw another fight. I believe in my next fight I’m going to be so much better.”
As far as his next move goes, Santos said he’ll keep a close eye on Saturday’s main event between Dominick Reyes and Jiri Prochazka at UFC on ESPN 23. He thinks the winner of that fight might be a little bit beyond his reach at the moment given his slump, but views the loser as a potentially realistic foe – if the timing lines up.
“The problem when you have three losses is you can’t choose,” Santos said. “Whatever the UFC gives me I’m going to take. I would like to fight whoever loses the next fight between Dominick Reyes and Jiri Prochazka. I have three losses, maybe (Reyes) will have three losses after this and we can fight. If it’s too close for them because they’re going to fight (Saturday) and I want to fight in July, then if not, whatever the UFC gives me I’m going to take.”
UFC’s Thiago Santos defiant about three-fight skid: ‘I’m going up and not down’
