In many ways, Thiago Santos is no better than the dozen title challengers Jon Jones has already beaten. He is no more technically sophisticated than Anthony Smith, no more athletic than Vitor Belfort, no faster than Ovince Saint Preux. In many ways, he is far worse than some of Jones’ victims. Daniel Cormier, Lyoto Machida, and Alexander Gustafsson all have deep wells of skill the likes of which Marreta could not dream of matching—and none of those men has lost a fight to Eric Spicely, either.
So what’s with this feeling that Santos may in fact be the most dangerous foe Jones has ever faced?