The Ultimate Fighting Championship kicks off a busy month with UFC Fight 193 on Oct. 3.
Happening at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada, the event is headlined by the All-Brazilian light heavyweight clash between former title contender Thiago Santos (21-9) and Johnny Walker (18-5).
Thirty-seven-year-old Santos is looking to swing back to winning after dropping his last three matches, the most recent at the hands of Austrian Aleksansar Rakic by unanimous decision in March this year.
“It is important to me. I need to come back and get a victory and win my fights and come back to the title contention. A win in this fight will put me close to the title,” said Mr. Santos in a media roundtable.
He remains undeterred despite the slide he is currently in, working on his game despite the challenges presented by the pandemic.
“I always work and it doesn’t matter who my opponent is,” he said. “When the lockdown started, I was in Brazil. It was hard to find a partner to train with. But when I returned to America, I was able to find a training partner. Now things are back in a normal way.”
Mr. Walker, 29, for his part, halted a two-fight skid in his last outing in September last year, beating American Ryan Spann by way of a first-round knockout (elbow and punches). He now seeks to sustain the momentum generated by the win.
Also part of the main card is the middleweight collision between Kevin Holland and Kyle Daukaus; welterweight Alex Oliverira against Niko Price; middleweight Misha Cirkunov versus Krzysztof Jotko; women’s bantamweight Aspen Ladd vs Macy Chiasson; and lightweight Alexander Hernandez against Mike Breeden.
UFC Fight Night 193 is the first of five scheduled UFC events for the month of October.
The event can be seen live in the country over TAP DMV’s over-the-top (OTT) platform TAP GO and linear channel, Premier Sports.
Sports media distribution company TAP DMV and the UFC recently agreed to have the former be the exclusive home of the UFC in the country.
In the agreement, TAP GO and Premier Sports will show all 42 live UFC events, including 12 numbered pay-per-view events and 30 UFC Fight Night events year-round. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo
