We have eight straight weeks of UFC to look forward to in this stretch and if last weekend’s UFC 266 card is anything to go on, we are in for a treat fight fans.
We have another outstanding card of fights this Sunday and our UFC Fight Night: Santos v Walker Preview can be found below.
Thiago Santos is a very dangerous mixed martial artist who made an incredible run in the Middleweight and then Light Heavyweight divisions in the UFC.
He gave Jon Jones a very tough fight when he went for the title and the subsequent knee injury put him on the sidelines for a while, which hampered his momentum.
He has had two fights since then and has been defeated in both by Glover Teixeira and Aleksander Rakic, two legit contenders.
Johnny Walker is a very unpredictable and unorthodox striker who is a threat to anyone.
He won his first four fights in the UFC and although he did some weird stuff inside the octagon, he is clearly a huge man with a lot of power behind his strikes.
Rather encouragingly, he was able to bounce back from two losses by beating Ryan Spann via a first round KO in September last year.
Santos is clearly still hampered by his knee injuries, even if it is mental more than anything physical, and his movement has been limited since that injury.
Walker can land a bit punch and Santos may be a sitting duck for someone like him, this fight should end within five rounds.
After winning five fights during a turbulent 2020, Kevin Holland has now lost his last two in a row.
Those two losses were against top UFC Middleweight contenders in Derek Brunson and Marvin Vettori however.
He really struggled against those wrestlers but he avoids that challenge in this fight against Kyle Daukaus who is not that.
Daukaus is a fantastic grappler who won his first six professional fights by submission and eight of his first 11 via that method of victory.
He has just the one win from three fight inside the UFC promotion though.
Holland has moved himself to ATT working on his wrestling with Daniel Cormier and the team and I’m of the belief that he can avoid being taken down in this fight.
Wow.
There is no way this isn’t an absolute cracker of a fight.
Cowboy made his UFC debut back in 2015 against a little known Gilbert Burns and after winning the first two rounds, he lost via a submission in the third.
The lead in form is not great, having won just twice in his last seven fights and three of those five losses have been by submission.
He gets a stand up fighter here in the form of Niko Price who also has just the one win from his last five fights.
Just one of Niko Price’s last 13 fights have gone the distance (two NC) and that was his last fight with Michael Pereira which he lost via decision.
Both of these guys take damage in their fights and leave themselves open when attacking which is evident in their recent records.
Cowboy Oliveira has sharp and brutal front kicks and is more of a volume striker than Price.
I have Cowboy keeping Niko at range throughout the fight and winning a decision.