Thiago Santos is set for the biggest fight of his career against Jon Jones in the main event of UFC 239. There, the Brazilian is set to fight for UFC gold for the first time of his career.
Yet, winning the fight will not be easy. Jones has never lost a fight, he was DQ’d in his only ‘loss’ on his record. But, Santos believes he can knock out Jones, and according to Dan Hardy, he believes the Brazilian just needs to be himself. And, he can’t fall for Jon Jones’ traps.
“The obvious one is he has to be himself,” Dan Hardy said on The MMA Hour (as transcribed by BJPENN.com). “He has to not fall into that Jon Jones voodoo that everyone seems to get caught in. We saw it so much in [Jones’] last fights against [Anthony] Smith and [Alexander] Gustafsson. Guys fall into this trap where they never get started. He stifles every attack with just a poke or a prod or a feint. The danger for Thiago Santos is that if he gets caught in that with him, he’ll be stuck there for 25 minutes — or less, obviously.
“[Santos] needs to create opportunities, he needs to stay mobile and give Jon Jones a black face and not recognize him as the greatest fighter on the planet. He needs to attack him, he needs to damage him.”
It is easier said than done, as no one has been able to do that against Jones. But, as many say, Thiago Santos is a wildcard in this fight and could very well catch the champion.
