Thiago Santos certainly isn’t one of those complaining of an early stoppage at last night’s (Feb. 19) UFC Fight Night event in Halifax.
Santos took on Jack Marshman in the first fight of the FOX Sports 1 (FS1) portion of the preliminary card. “Marreta” nailed his opponent with a wheel kick and finished the fight with some ground-and-pound. You can see the finish here.
The TKO earned Santos a “Performance of the Night” bonus. Despite the impressive win, some felt the fight was stopped prematurely. After the fight, Santos told MMAJunkie.com that he felt the timing of the stoppage was spot on:
“No, the referee stopped it at the right time. Maybe the referee didn’t see exactly what was going on right there. I was already hitting him with hard punches and elbows. It was perfectly at the right time.”
Going into the bout, Santos had lost two straight bouts. A third defeat might have earned “Marreta” a pink slip from the UFC. Santos insisted that he wasn’t stressed about his situation during his preparation.
“I didn’t have any pressure on me coming into the fight. It was visible. I was not rushing I was taking my time. It just has to do with putting things together. Camp, my mind is in the right place, the right coaches and the right strategy. … I know I have a lot of potential to show still.”
With the victory, Santos improves his professional mixed martial arts (MMA) record to 14-5. He has gone 6-4 inside the Octagon. Meanwhile, Marshman falls to 21-6. The “Hammer” had his seven-fight winning streak snapped. Before last night, he hadn’t lost since a March 2014 bout against Abu Azaitar.
UFC Fight Night 105 featured a heavyweight tilt between Derrick Lewis and Travis Browne. “The Black Beast” knocked out “Hapa” in the second round. You can read the full results here.
