UFC Vegas 38 Review: What’s next for Thiago Santos?

On Saturday night, UFC Vegas 38 took place under the familiar lights of the UFC Apex, with the main event headlined by two exciting Brazilians, Thiago Santos and Johnny Walker.

Marreta came into the bout off the back of three consecutive losses, one being in his title challenge against the consensus GOAT, Jon Jones. Fighters have been cut from the promotional powerhouse for less than four consecutive losses, making it crucial for Santos to get back to winning ways.

On the other side of the Octagon stood Johnny Walker. The unorthodox striker picked up an impressive KO win in his last outing against fellow Light Heavyweight, Ryan Spann. Walker entered the fight at rank 10, with Santos occupying the 5th spot giving Walker the chance to leap frog up the rankings. There’s never a dull moment when it comes to Johnny Walker, so fireworks were to be expected.

The fight got off to an unexpected slow start with only 12 significant strikes combined landing in the first round. Normal service resumed in the second round with Santos landing a trademark left body kick, while Walker’s game plan became clear as all but one of his landed strikes were leg kicks.

Throughout the fight, Walker continued calving away at Marreta with outside leg kicks with this only being Santos’ third fight back since tearing his ACL, PCL, MCL and Meniscus back in 2019. Walker’s one dimensional game plan never truly came to fruition even though he landed over 58% of his attempted leg kicks, with people questioning coach Kavanagh’s ability to switch tactics mid fight.

Santos closed the distance well throughout the fight with patient attacks resulting in the most surprising part being that the fight went the distance.

The most refreshing part of the entire fight for many is that all three judges scored the fight the exact same, in favour of a unanimous decision win for Santos, ending his three fight skid.

So, what’s next for Thiago Santos?

Maretta had one name in his mouth after his hard earned victory, but it’s a fight that doesn’t seem very likely in current circumstances. At the post fight press conference, Thiago Santos said: “Jiri Prochazka, if he don’t want to wait for title fight, i’m here. I can fight against him, he’s a good fighter all respect to him.”

There’s another option that jumps out as beneficial for Santos, a rematch against Lionheart. Anthony Smith came up short in what became a number one contender fight with Glover Teixeira last year, losing again only three months later to Rakic. Since then, he has put together three impressive wins to catapult his name back into contention.

The two fought back in 2018 with Santos getting the upper hand, finishing the fight with his trademark body kick and finishing with ground and pound.

A win for Smith would give him redemption and another big Light Heavyweight name on his ever growing record. But a win for Santos would see him climb the rankings once more and show his fellow Light Heavyweights that he’s still a problem for anyone in the division.