Thiago Santos Gets a UD Win Over Johnny Walker at UFC Fight Night 193

Thiago Santos defeated Johnny Walker in the main event of the UFC Fight Night 193. The Marreta, as the fans call him, was better after all three judges scored in his favor, 48-47.

The fans expected to see an attractive fight with high punching output, but it went on to become a dull contest as both fighters used a conservative game plan. Santos and Walker are known as devastating hitters, and the majority of their wins in the MMA came following KOs. Still, last night the fans didn’t have a chance to see that.

Walker opened the match better, but as time went by, Santos was catching his rhythm, slowly starting to collect points with tactical hits from a distance. Each time Walker made some push, Santos was there to calm him down and to reverse the situation in his favor.

Huge shot landing in round 5

Who won?? #UFCVegas38 pic.twitter.com/nYwZLn7Ott

— Spinnin Backfist (@SpinninBackfist) October 3, 2021

The biggest thrill was in the second round when two entered a wild exchange but without inflicting nor absorbing some big hits. Many hoped that the fight would continue in the same manner, but that didn’t happen.

“I tried to do my best,” Santos said in. “I tried to knock him out, but it’s hard to get close to him. He’s big, but he moves fast.”

This is the first victory following three losses for the former title challenger. After losing to Jon Jones in one highly controversial match, and missing a chance to win the title, Santos had two more defeats, vs. Glover Teixeira and, more recently, Aleksandar Rakic.

Santos had to undergo several knee surgeries following his battle with Jones. His road to recovery has been tough, but Marreta didn’t want to stop.

“I fight every single day to be here, and I will not stop,” he said.

As for Walker, one of the most exciting prospects of the division slowed down in recent times. Following a flamboyant start of the UFC campaign, Walker lost three of the previous four events. The first was against Corey Anderson, a big KO in the opening round. After that, Walker lost to Nikita Krylov before beating Ryan Spann. He will have to change something in his preparations, otherwise, the Brazilian will remain nothing more than a gatekeeper.

As for Santos, he called out Jiri Prochazka, who knocked out Volkan Oexdemir and Dominick Reyes in his initial two UFC bouts.

All class from Thiago Santos 🔨🇧🇷#UFCVegas38 pic.twitter.com/5Ke99LDbVZ

— UFC on TNT Sports (@ufcontnt) October 3, 2021

In other matches of the night, the biggest news is that Kevin Holland and Kyle Daukaus didn’t saw the regular ending. Their fight ended as a no contest, following an accidental clash of heads in the opening round.

The two went for a takedown at the same time but had a pretty nasty collision. After that, the bout continued, and Daukaus submitted Holland, but the commission officials and the referees reviewed the replay and decided to go with a no-contest.

Niko Price is back in the winning column following three matches in which he lost. He was better last night than Alex Oliveira, after a unanimous decision. Krzystof Jotko beat Misha Cirkunov via split decision, and Casey O’Neill was better than Antonina Shevchenko via TKO in the second round.

Up next, we have the UFC Fight Night Dern vs Rodriguez next week. The welterweight fight between Randy Brown and Jared Gooden will serve as the co-main event.