The Film Room: Thiago Santos
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After six years with the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Thiago Santos will finally get his shot at a belt when he takes on reigning light heavyweight titleholder Jon Jones in the UFC 239 main event on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Santos finds himself on a four-fight winning streak that includes three knockouts against Eryk Anders, Jimi Manuwa and Jan Blachowicz.
“Marreta” provides the material for this edition of The Film
Room.
Once an opponent is trapped along the fence, Santos will throw wild combos and look for the highlight finish. Santos is great at mixing up his attacks to get the opponents to the cage, but once they are trapped, he usually just throws wild looping hooks to the head instead of mixing up his attacks. If Santos can learn to slow the pace a bit and intelligently pick his shots against the cage, he will have much more success keeping opponents corralled. He does leave himself wide open for counters during these rushing attacks, often crossing his feet and leading face first. However, opponents are generally fearful of these blitzes and end up running away instead of planting and countering. It is difficult to point to Santos doing anything wrong when he has amassed a 20-6 record with 14 knockouts using this method of operation. No one can out-technique Jones. He is the perfect mix of technical prowess and aggression, and few can match his length. We have seen many fighters play into his hands by trying to outstrike him at range; it has never worked. Daniel Cormier routinely closed the distance and beat on him in the clinch, proving that Jones is not great at dealing with pressure. However, even “DC” took a technical approach and lost twice. This might sound crazy, but at this point, the best way to beat Jones is to leave your technique at the door, simply run at him with wild combos and fluster him with pressure, denying him the opportunity to set the range and pace of the fight. Santos has done this his entire career, and it would be a mistake for him to change for this fight.
Something to admire about Santos’ game is his liberal use of kicks. At middleweight, he was one of the longest fighters in the division, which meant his kicks could land while being out of range of the opponent’s returning strikes. At light heavyweight, he does not have the major length advantage to which he had grown accustomed, but kicks remain some of his best weapons. Santos generally just looks for rear-leg kicks to the body, but he has shown the occasional spinning heel kick and other unorthodox kicks. It would be nice to see him attack the head more, but since he has a bad habit of dropping his hands when kicking, it is probably best that he sticks to focusing on the body.
Santos rarely initiates grappling exchanges, but he has proven he has vicious ground-and-pound when the opportunity arises. Most of his ground-and-pound comes when the opponent is hurt, but either way, he has shown himself to be just as aggressive with his ground striking as he is on the feet. Santos is a black belt in jiu-jitsu, but he only has one submission victory on his record and it was eight years ago on the regional scene. Jones has far superior grappling and might try to take this fight to the ground to negate Santos’ best weapons, even though he prefers to beat opponents at their own game.
After six years with the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Thiago Santos will finally get his shot at a belt when he takes on reigning light heavyweight titleholder Jon Jones in the UFC 239 main event on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Santos finds himself on a four-fight winning streak that includes three knockouts against Eryk Anders, Jimi Manuwa and Jan Blachowicz.
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Although most observers do not give Santos much of a chance to
dethrone Jones, his wild and aggressive style could match up
perfectly with the champion. Santos is a mad man, plain and simple.
He has no concern for defense and would rather lose a crazy fight
than win a boring decision. Not only is he one of the most
aggressive fighters in the sport, but his athleticism makes him a
truly scary contender. Instead of relying on technique, Santos
would rather blitz forward with wild combos to the head and body,
usually hooks to the head and rear leg kicks to the body. These
blitzing combos obviously do not represent the most technical
approach to fighting, but they work wonderfully to fluster
opponents and trap them against the cage, where he can unload with
more strikes. Those who fight Santos must have immaculate footwork
to circle off of the cage and away from his pressure. Those who
lack such skills are in for a long night of a giant Brazilian
sprinting at them for five rounds. Jones has great offensive
footwork but not so much on the defensive side. We have not seen
anybody run at him like Santos will, and it will be interesting to
see how he deals with the pressure.
Once an opponent is trapped along the fence, Santos will throw wild combos and look for the highlight finish. Santos is great at mixing up his attacks to get the opponents to the cage, but once they are trapped, he usually just throws wild looping hooks to the head instead of mixing up his attacks. If Santos can learn to slow the pace a bit and intelligently pick his shots against the cage, he will have much more success keeping opponents corralled. He does leave himself wide open for counters during these rushing attacks, often crossing his feet and leading face first. However, opponents are generally fearful of these blitzes and end up running away instead of planting and countering. It is difficult to point to Santos doing anything wrong when he has amassed a 20-6 record with 14 knockouts using this method of operation. No one can out-technique Jones. He is the perfect mix of technical prowess and aggression, and few can match his length. We have seen many fighters play into his hands by trying to outstrike him at range; it has never worked. Daniel Cormier routinely closed the distance and beat on him in the clinch, proving that Jones is not great at dealing with pressure. However, even “DC” took a technical approach and lost twice. This might sound crazy, but at this point, the best way to beat Jones is to leave your technique at the door, simply run at him with wild combos and fluster him with pressure, denying him the opportunity to set the range and pace of the fight. Santos has done this his entire career, and it would be a mistake for him to change for this fight.
Something to admire about Santos’ game is his liberal use of kicks. At middleweight, he was one of the longest fighters in the division, which meant his kicks could land while being out of range of the opponent’s returning strikes. At light heavyweight, he does not have the major length advantage to which he had grown accustomed, but kicks remain some of his best weapons. Santos generally just looks for rear-leg kicks to the body, but he has shown the occasional spinning heel kick and other unorthodox kicks. It would be nice to see him attack the head more, but since he has a bad habit of dropping his hands when kicking, it is probably best that he sticks to focusing on the body.
Santos rarely initiates grappling exchanges, but he has proven he has vicious ground-and-pound when the opportunity arises. Most of his ground-and-pound comes when the opponent is hurt, but either way, he has shown himself to be just as aggressive with his ground striking as he is on the feet. Santos is a black belt in jiu-jitsu, but he only has one submission victory on his record and it was eight years ago on the regional scene. Jones has far superior grappling and might try to take this fight to the ground to negate Santos’ best weapons, even though he prefers to beat opponents at their own game.
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