Luana Santos isn’t overlooking Mariya Agapova, but is more than confident she can get the job done with a finish at UFC Denver on Saturday.
Santos returns to the flyweight division after a health condition caused a massive weight miss in her fight this past December and she likes the challenges Agapova presents given their clash of styles. Santos, 2-0 in the UFC, sees multiple ways to finish Agapova.
“I saw that she was submitted in her past two fights [against Maryna Moroz and Gillian Robertson], so given my grappling background, it’s a good matchup for me,” Santos said. “She has dangerous hands, her boxing is very dangerous. She comes in fast for the knockout so I have to be careful with her hands, but I’ve trained a lot for this fight.”
Santos said she had a longer training camp than normal after being diagnosed with Hashimoto’s disease, a condition that causes weight gain. The condition is now under control and the extra time between fights has allowed Santos to evolve in multiple aspects of the game.
“I had 16 weeks to prepare for this match based on what to expect in there,” Santos said. “I have weapons to beat her on the feet and also submit her. I trained my striking very hard and I have what it takes to knock her out. I can submit her too. We’ll see how the fight plays out, but my feeling is that there’s a submission coming.”
Santos knocked out Juliana Miller in the first round in her octagon debut and then defeated Stephanie Egger via unanimous decision in her follow-up bout.
“I was very disappointed when I left that [Egger] fight because I could have won in a different way, I could have done more, but then I re-watched the fight and it kind of changed my mind,” Santos said. “I was doing well in the fight, the first round was good and so was the beginning of the second, but then I got tired. I only had three weeks to prepare, I wasn’t even training, and cut 22 pounds in a short period of time and still missed weight.
“I reflected on it and it’s all good. I missed weight, but saved a fight that wasn’t going to happen, so let’s look at the bright side. I thought the fight was shit, that I could have won better, but I did the best I could under those circumstances. I did what I could and came out with the win. It could have been way worse, I could have lost, but that’s not what happened. I came back and finished what was wrong. This time, I’m going for the win, regardless of being a knockout, a submission, or by points. I want to put on a good fight and a great performance.”
