Mairon Santos` hand was raised after his 15-minute bout against Francis Marshall at UFC 313 in March, and he initially felt victorious leaving the cage. However, upon reviewing the fight later, he came to believe his opponent had actually done enough to earn the win.
Now set to compete at lightweight this Saturday, a change necessitated by a short preparation period, the winner of *The Ultimate Fighter 32* featherweight season is focused on securing a more decisive victory against Sodiq Yusuff at UFC Vegas 106.
“I’ve used that [fight] as evolution,” Santos explained. “I saw the mistakes and everything I did wrong in that fight, things I could have done right. Let’s move on and look at that as a lesson.” He admitted to dwelling on his performance significantly at first, feeling more disappointed by not reaching his potential than by the opponent`s skill.
Santos attributed his performance issues to his own errors. While acknowledging Marshall fought well, he felt he could have performed much better. He sees the March bout as a valuable, albeit difficult, lesson, especially since he ultimately won. He has since made adjustments to avoid repeating those mistakes and aims for a convincing performance this time around.
Santos identified a major issue going into the Marshall fight as being overly confident in his striking, a mindset perhaps influenced by his swift second-round knockout win in the TUF 32 final just months prior.
He is eager to implement new strategies learned from that experience in his upcoming fight. “I was happy when I saw I was going to fight [Yusuff],” Santos stated. He noted that fighters always seek significant challenges regardless of weight class and was pleased the UFC offered him a tough opponent, viewing it as a sign the promotion recognizes his potential despite his last outing.
Sodiq Yusuff is also making his UFC lightweight debut. He enters the octagon for his tenth promotional fight looking to rebound from consecutive losses, including a quick knockout defeat just over a year ago, putting him in a challenging position.
Santos anticipates this matchup will be “a great fight” for him. He is standing by his prediction: a second-round knockout. He described a strategic approach involving respecting Yusuff`s abilities while being aggressive. “My hand will land eventually,” he affirmed, believing Yusuff`s tendency to press forward and expose himself will work in his favor. Ultimately, Santos is focused on securing the knockout and hopefully earning a performance bonus.
Marcus Blakely