Over the past couple years, Thiago Santos has endured double knee surgeries and a three-bout losing streak, but the former light heavyweight title challenger believes he can be a contender once again.
“Marreta” took a step toward achieving that goal with a five-round unanimous decision victory against Johnny Walker in the UFC Fight Night 193 headliner at the UFC Apex on Saturday night. It was the 37-year-old Brazilian’s first triumph after falling to Jon Jones, Glover Teixeira and Aleksandar Rakic in succession. Even in defeat, Santos argued that he’s always been competitive.
“I went through hard times since when I did my surgery – it’s hard to recover.