Thiago Santos spent the last year (490 days, to be exact) waiting, training, recovering and biding his time as the light heavyweight division moved along without him after his split decision loss to Jon Jones at UFC 235. While Santos became the first fighter to win a fight on a judge’s scorecard in the UFC against “Bones,” he joined the long list of failed challengers. Even worse, he needed to step out of the immediate title picture as the knee that blew out during the fight healed.
Now, Santos finally gets a chance to reassert himself as the No.