Top 10 contenders in the
Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight division will
step into the spotlight when
Thiago
Santos faces
Magomed
Ankalaev in the
UFC Fight Night 203 main event on March 12 at the UFC Apex in
Las Vegas.
Santos has lost three of his past four bouts. The onetime title
challenger last appeared at UFC Fight Night 193, where he laid
claim to a five-round unanimous decision over
Johnny
Walker in their Oct. 2 headliner. Ankalaev, meanwhile, has
rattled off seven straight victories, four of them finishes. He
last fought on Oct. 30, when he took a unanimous verdict from
Volkan
Oezdemir in their three-round UFC 267 showcase.
Ahead of the Santos-Ankalaev confrontation at 205 pounds, a look at
some of the numbers that have accompanied them to this point:
38: Years of age for Santos, who was born on Jan. 7, 1984 in Rio de
Janeiro.
15: Santos victories by knockout or technical knockout, accounting
for 68% of his career total (22). His list of UFC victims:
Jan
Blachowicz,
Jimi Manuwa,
Eryk
Anders,
Anthony
Smith,
Jack
Hermansson,
Gerald
Meerschaert,
Jack
Marshman,
Nate
Marquardt,
Steve Bosse,
Andy
Enz and
Ronny
Markes. Santos owns one other victory by submission—he disposed
of
Eneas
Souza with a third-round rear-naked choke at a Watch Out Combat
Show event on Dec. 17, 2011—and six more by decision.
12: Consecutive calendar years in which Santos has fought at least
once. He went 1-0 in 2010, 5-0 in 2011, 2-1 in 2012, 0-1 in 2013,
1-1 in 2014, 3-0 in 2015, 1-2 in 2016, 3-0 in 2017, 4-1 in 2018,
1-1 in 2019, 0-1 in 2020 and 1-1 in 2021.
2: Sub-minute stoppage wins to Santos’ credit. He cut down Markes
with a body kick and follow-up punches in 53 seconds at UFC Fight
Night 38 on March 23, 2014 and wiped out Bosse with a head kick in
29 seconds at UFC Fight Night 70 on June 27, 2015.
.770: Cumulative winning percentage between the nine men—
Aleksandar
Rakic,
Glover
Teixeira,
Jon Jones,
David
Branch,
Eric
Spicely,
Gegard
Mousasi,
Uriah Hall,
Cezar
Ferreira and
Vicente
Luque—who have defeated Santos. They boast a combined record of
208-59-3.
29: Years of age Ankalaev, who was born in Makhachkala, Russia, on
June 2, 1992.
8: Ankalaev wins by knockout or technical knockout, accounting for
53% of his career total (15). His list of UFC victims:
Ion
Cutelaba (twice),
Dalcha
Lungiambula,
Klidson
Abreu and
Marcin
Prachnio. Ankalaev holds seven other wins by decision.
15: Seconds needed for Ankalaev to punch
Lloyd
Marshbanks into submission under the World Fighting
Championship Akhmat banner on April 9, 2016. Having occurred nearly
six years ago, it remains the fastest finish of his 16-fight
career.
81: Significant strikes by which Ankalaev has outlanded the
opposition during his current seven-fight winning streak. He has
connected on 224 such strikes while absorbing only 143 in
return.
1: Loss on the Ankalaev resume. He submitted to a
Paul Craig
triangle choke 4:59 into the third round of their UFC Fight Night
127 encounter in March 2018.