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As reported by Sherdog, top-ranked UFC light heavyweight competitor Thiago Santos asserted that he could nudge Israel Adesanya out of the latter’s upcoming UFC light heavyweight title shot.
Santos believes that should he secure an impressive victory over Glover Teixeira in their five-round main event matchup this weekend, he could earn the next shot at the UFC light heavyweight belt that’s currently held by Jan Blachowicz.
UFC President Dana White recently announced that the promotion intends to put forth a champion-vs-champion super-fight between reigning middleweight titlist Israel Adesanya and light heavyweight kingpin Jan Blachowicz.
The consensus is that the fight is likely to take place in the first quarter of the 2021 calendar year, and will witness Adesanya moving up to the light heavyweight division in his bid to become a two-weight UFC champion.
Jan Blachowicz captured the vacant UFC light heavyweight championship at UFC 253 in September of this year, defeating Dominick Reyes via second-round TKO.
On that note, one of the marquee wins held by Thiago Santos is that of a third-round TKO victory he’d scored against Jan Blachowicz in February of 2019.
Thiago Santos subsequently faced Jon Jones for the light heavyweight belt in July 2019, and ended up losing to Jones via split decision. Santos suffered several injuries during his clash against Jones, and resultantly was unable to compete for the rest of 2019 and for the better part of 2020 as well.
Nevertheless, Thiago Santos is now set to face fellow elite light heavyweight contender Glover Teixeira at UFC Vegas 13 on November 7th, 2020, in what many believe is a number-one contender’s matchup.
The winner of this bout will likely compete against the winner of the Israel Adesanya vs. Jan Blachowicz matchup for the UFC light heavyweight title.
Thiago Santos is confident about stealing Israel Adesanya’s UFC LHW title shot
Speaking to Sherdog, Thiago Santos revealed that it was only a few weeks ago that UFC President Dana White had noted that the winner of the fight between him and Teixeira would receive the next shot at the UFC light heavyweight belt.
Marreta added, however, that as of now, Israel Adesanya seems to be the fighter who’s been granted the next title shot at the 205-pound belt.
“Let’s wait and see. Two things I’ve learned in my seven years fighting in UFC: Fights are decided by the fans, and settled only when both fighters sign the contract. I’m sure that if me or Glover have a great (performance), the fans will be eager to see the winner fighting for the belt.”
Furthermore, Thiago Santos explained that his UFC Vegas 13 opponent Glover Teixeira is a complete fighter who always aims to finish the fight, be it via knockout or submission.
Santos continued that he doesn’t see the fight between him and Teixeira going the distance, alluding that he intends to score a stoppage win over the latter.
Thiago Santos emphasized that the fans can rest assured that they’ll surely have fun watching his fight against Teixeira.
