Mairon Santos appears to be growing more as a fighter, and he impressed in his toughest battle yet, defeating Sodiq Yusuff at UFC Vegas 106.
Santos' strides were seen in the opening round, as after a little feeling out process, he was able to take control and landed the more effective strikes in a close round. Yusuff was explosive when he did attack, but Santos also stopped a Yusuff takedown attempt in the middle of the round.
Santos took more notable control in the second, however, clearly landing the bigger strikes. The third round was a little more even with less significant strikes. Yusuff seemed to be in control of the pacing, but Santos was landing the better shots. Yusuff was able to score a takedown with just over two minutes to go in the fight, but Santos quickly scrambled and got back up to his feet almost right away.
Two judges scored the fight 30-27, with the remaining 29-28, all for Santos.
Mairon Santos Scores Decision Win Over Sodiq Yusuff At UFC Vegas 106
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The fight was scheduled to just be a part of the main card before being bumped to co-main event status after Rodolfo Bellato vs. Paul Craig was canceled at the last minute.
Santos is now 3-0 in the UFC, also scoring a split decision over Francis Marshall at UFC 313 and knocking out Kaan Ofli to win the featherweight portion of season 32 of The Ultimate Fighter.
Yusuff has now lost three straight.