LAS VEGAS – Yana Santos felt she was fighting for her job at UFC on ESPN 61.
The ladies’s bantamweight veteran entered Saturday’s bout against Chelsea Chandler on a three-fight losing streak, together with her last win coming in 2021. Santos (15-8 MMA, 5-5 UFC) believed a fourth consecutive defeat could’ve cost her her job with the UFC.
“It was probably career-saving because I had three losses, and also you never know what the UFC goes to do,” Santos said. “It doesn’t matter if my opponent misses weight, doesn’t matter if I got here after delivery, it’s my problem, I accepted the fight.
“If I resolve to go to Russia after delivery and go and fight is my problem, they usually have all the appropriate to chop me if I actually have 4 losses. I feel this was career-saving.”
Santos defeated Chandler (6-3 MMA, 2-2 UFC) in a unanimous decision. Not only was the victory satisfying because she put an end to her losing streak, but in addition because Chandler had missed weight – something Santos didn’t take well.
Santos expected Chandler to make use of her perceived weight advantage within the bout, and was surprised it didn’t play a task within the fight.
“I felt her technique was so low within the a part of wrestling,” Santos said. “What I used to be waiting is that she can be stronger and that she would put effort to place me down because that’s probably where she could use her weight, however it was pretty easy to defend the takedowns. It was a surprise for me because (the load advantage) is very important in wrestling and I assumed it was going to make use of this.”
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