By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch Senior Columnist
UFC Fight Night: Santos vs. Teixiera was this past week and the winner inserted himself squarely into the title picture. Let’s get to the rundown.
UFC Fight Night: Santos vs. Teixiera
GOOD- Claudia Gadelha vs. Yan Xiaonan
Gadelha started off strongly in the first round but then faded in the second and third rounds. Xiaonan just outworked her and landed more and more punches as the fight wore on, and that got her the decision victory. Good win for Xiaonan.
GOOD- Giga Chikadze stops Jamey Simmons
They traded some strikes before Chikadze landed a good kick to the body then a headkick that dropped Simmons. A few punches on the ground ended things as the ref jumped in not quite four minutes into the first round. Good win for Chikadze.
GOOD- Raoni Barcelos vs. Khalid Taha
These guys were on fire all throughout this fight. The output was impressive, they fought hard. Barcelos was doing more, which got him the decision win, but Taha was fighting well also. Both guys landed big shots in this fight, they showed toughness to fight through. Tons of punches thrown, lots landed, and we got a very exciting fight. Good win for Barcelos.
GOOD- Andrei Arlovski vs. Tanner Boser
These guys weren’t done any favors having to follow that last fight but this was pretty good. This was a close fight, and you could argue that Boser should have won, but Arlovski got the decision win. At this point, I can’t see Arlovski getting a title shot but stranger things have happened, I guess. Good win for Arlovski.
GOOD- Glover Teixiera submits Thiago Santos
Teixiera kept getting takedowns and working his grappling and ground-and-pound. He landed some heavy elbows and punches to Santos. Teixiera almost finished the fight in the second round as he beat up Santos and locked in a rear-naked choke. Santos was saved by the bell, though. The third round got crazy, as Santos dropped Teixiera with a left hand and swarmed, but he couldn’t finish him. Santos landed some nasty shots but Teixiera survived somehow and turned things around and applied another rear-naked choke, one that Santos couldn’t escape and got Teixiera the submission win.
Teixiera was ranked #3 in the Light Heavyweight division in the UFC rankings while Santos was ranked #1. It doesn’t take a math major to figure out that this means Teixiera will likely be the new #1 contender to the UFC Light Heavyweight Title held by Jan Blachowicz. Teixiera is a threat to Blachowicz, no doubt, and it wouldn’t be a huge upset if he were to beat him. We’ll see if the UFC makes that fight next or not, but if Teixiera doesn’t get the next title shot, he’ll surely get the shot after that.
Comments and suggestions can be emailed to me at hydenfrank@gmail.com and you can follow me on Twitter at @hydenfrank and you can check out my blog athttps://3pr117238763.wordpress.com/ where I talk about wrestling, sports, and videogames. Thanks for reading and have a good day.
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