Still parked well inside the Top 10,
Yana Santos
could use some more consistency within the
Ultimate Fighting Championship women’s bantamweight
division.
The 33-year-old
American Top Team export will collide with former champion
Holly
Holm in the
UFC on ESPN 43 co-main event this Saturday at the AT&T
Center in San Antonio. Santos owns a respectable 4-3 record inside
the Octagon, though she has yet two string together more than two
victories in succession since she joined the promotion five years
ago. She last competed on July 10, when she succumbed to punches
from
Irene
Aldana in the first round of their UFC 264 confrontation.
As Santos approaches her forthcoming battle with Holm at 135
pounds, a look at some of the rivalries that have played a part in
charting her course:
Evinger retained the undisputed
Invicta Fighting Championships bantamweight title when she
dismissed Santos with a rear-naked choke in the Ivicta 22 headliner
on March 25, 2017 at the Scottish Rite Temple in Kansas City,
Missouri. Santos—who saw a previous victory over “Triple Threat”
changed to a no contest due to referee error—bowed out of their
rematch 4:32 into Round 2. The challenger dragged Evinger through
plenty of difficulty. The action spilled onto the canvas after a
standing guillotine from Santos in the first round. She then ran
Evinger through a maze of attempted triangle chokes, armbars, heel
hooks and kneebars. None of them were successful. In the second
round, Evinger dodged another bid for a guillotine, assumed top
position and ultimately maneuvered to the back. From there, she
cinched the choke on Santos and prompted the tapout.
Santos took hold of the vacant Invicta Fighting Championships
bantamweight crown when she laid claim to a five-round unanimous
decision over Canuto in the Invicta 25 main event on Aug. 31, 2017
at the Tachi Palace Hotel and Casino in Lemoore, California. All
three judges scored it 50-45. Santos bloodied the Hawaiian’s nose
with a well-timed and perfectly placed upkick in the first round,
then outstruck and outmaneuvered her across a majority of the final
20 minutes. She countered takedowns by drawing Canuto into the
clinch and battering her with knees to the body and legs.
“Lionheart” managed a takedown late in Round 4 but failed to
consolidate those efforts with positional advances, meaningful
control or ground-and-pound, allowing Santos to cruise to the
finish line and become the third undisputed bantamweight
champion—she followed
Lauren
Murphy and the aforementioned Evinger—in company history.
“Cyborg” overcame some mild adversity to retain the Ultimate
Fighting Championship women’s featherweight title when she buried
Santos with punches in the first round of their UFC 222 headliner
on March 3, 2018 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The latest in a
long line of Justino victims, Santos conceded defeat 3:25 into
Round 1. To her credit, the challenger did not hold back. She
executed a low single-leg takedown against Justino early on,
employed a dogged clinch and nearly advanced to the Brazilian’s
back. However, Justino’s ferocious punching power proved to be far
too big of an obstacle. “Cyborg” had Santos ducking for cover with
more than one overhand right and finally drove her to the mat with
a straight right hand down the middle. Standing-to-ground punches
followed, forcing referee
Herb Dean to
act.
Ladd rebounded from her first professional defeat—a 16-second
drubbing at the hands of
Germaine
de Randamie five months prior—and did so in resounding fashion,
as she put away Santos with punches in the third round of their UFC
on ESPN 7 women’s featherweight showcase on Dec. 7, 2019 at Capitol
One Arena in Washington, D.C. The end came 33 seconds into Round 3.
Santos found success with knees from the clinch and occasional leg
kicks, but she lacked the weaponry necessary to give her
hyper-aggressive opponent real pause. Ladd leveled her with a left
hook at the start of the third round, followed up with punches and
advanced to the back. From there, a volley of unanswered shots to
the side of the head prompted referee
Keith
Peterson to call for the stoppage.
A strong second round and violent surge at the end of the third
propelled American Top Team’s Santos to a unanimous decision over
Vieira in their UFC Fight Night 185 co-main event on Feb. 20, 2021
at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. All three cageside judges scored
29-28. Vieira—who missed weight for the match—controlled much of
the first and third periods with superior topside grappling.
However, she all but gave away the middle stanza, where she was far
too content to work from her back once Santos powered into top
position. Still, Vieira appeared to be ticketed for a decision as
time ticked away in Round 3, as she climbed to full mount, advanced
to the back and threatened with a rear-naked choke. Santos sprang a
late reversal, shifted to a position of dominance and cut loose
with elbows, one of which opened a significant gash near the
Nova Uniao rep’s right eyebrow. Those efforts seemed to do
enough to curry necessary favor with the judges.