Magomed Ankalaev faced off against Thiago Santos in the light heavyweight title fight, this past Saturday in Las Vegas for UFC Fight Night.
Results
Ankalaev extended his winning streak from seven to eight with the win over Santos. He won via unanimous decision. The scores were 49-46, 49-46, 48-47.
The Russian is now 17-1 for his career.
Breakdown
In the first 90 seconds of the first round, there wasn’t a ton of action. Ankalaev made the first move by landing a couple of rear right hands.
Round two was off to a busier start. However, Santos wasn’t landing many significant strikes while Ankalaev was. In the last 30 seconds of that round, Santos might have gotten a win from the judges with a left hand over the top.
That possibly brought them both back to even on the scorecards. Third round was pretty evenly matched as well. In the fourth, Santos came out swinging. He had brief success in the opening minute. But in the final minute, the Russian was able to push Santos back to the fence and get his first takedown.
In the fifth, there was still precious little significant action, but Ankalaev secured his win on the scorecards with his grappling work against the fence as he kept Santos from making a late surge.
