Thiago Santos responds to critics after dull main event fight against Johnny Walker
UFC light heavyweight contender Thiago Santos responded to his critics following his dull main event against Johnny Walker at UFC Vegas 38.
By pitting two knockout artists against each other, the hope was that the Santos vs. Walker fight would deliver fireworks for the fans, but the fight was anything but. Surprisingly, the two Brazilian light heavyweights went the full 25-minute distance in what resembled a sparring match more than a fight. The two fighters were criticized heavily by fans, media, and fellow fighters on social media for not pulling the trigger during the fight to make it more exciting for the fans. But as far as Santos goes, while he understands that people want to see blood, he also wants people to know that he had a hard training camp. Just because the 25 minutes in the cage weren’t exciting doesn’t mean that he didn’t put in the work.
Taking to his social media in the days following the fight, Santos shared a before-and-after photo of himself. In the before photo, Santos shared a picture of him from his training camp three weeks ago where he has a huge gash on his face. In the second photo, Santos posted a photo from after the fight, where he looks to be unscathed. Along with the photos, Santos also posted the following message for the fans.
First photo, 3 weeks before the fight. Second photo, after the fight. I understand that most of people just want to see beatings, blood, knockouts and someone lying on the ground, and there is nothing wrong with that, after all we are talking about a combat sport. But don’t judge the athlete’s daily hard work because of a not-so-exciting night.
Regardless of whether it was an exciting fight or not, Santos needed to get the win and he got his hand raised by unanimous decision over Walker, snapping his three-fight losing skid in the process.
Who do you want to see Thiago Santos fight next?
