There aren’t many better action fights the UFC could make than Saturday’s Fight Night headliner between Thiago Santos and Johnny Walker. Both light heavyweight strikers have 15 career victories by knockout and less than 20% of their combined fights have gone to the judges’ scorecards.
Both Walker and Santos are in need of a big victory. Santos earned a title shot against champion Jon Jones in July 2019, battling the greatest light heavyweight in history to a close split decision loss. Santos tore his ACL, PCL, MCL and meniscus as well as breaking his tibia in the loss to Jones. After more than a year on the sidelines, Santos returned to action in November 2020, losing by submission to Glover Teixeira before dropping a decision to Aleksandar Rakic this past March. He now enters the fight with Walker on a three-fight losing skid.
Walker only recently snapped his own losing skid. After beginning his UFC career with three straight knockouts in less than three minutes combined, Walker was knocked out by Corey Anderson in just over two minutes. The loss to Anderson was followed up with a decision loss to Nikita Krylov. In September 2020, Walker got back in the win column by knocking out Ryan Spann in less than three minutes. He’ll need more impressive performances if he’s hoping to make a run at an eventual title shot.
Here’s the fight card for UFC Fight Night with the latest odds from Caesars Sportsbook.
UFC Fight Night card, odds
|
Thiago Santos -160 |
Johnny Walker +135 |
Light heavyweight |
|
Kevin Holland -170 |
Kyle Daukaus +145 |
Middleweight |
|
Niko Price -170 |
Alex Oliveira +145 |
Welterweight |
| Krzysztof Jotko -150 |
Misha Cirkunov +125 |
Middleweight |
| Aspen Ladd -280 | Macy Chiasson +230 |
Women’s bantamweight |
| Alexander Hernandez -550 | Mike Breeden +400 |
Lightweight |
UFC Fight Night viewing information
Date: Oct. 2 | Start time: 7 p.m. ET
Location: UFC Apex — Las Vegas
Stream: ESPN+
Prediction
Thiago Santos vs. Johnny Walker: Santos has not looked the same since the Jones fight. That’s not exactly surprising since his knee was completely destroyed. Still, he has not looked good in his two fights since. Walker is a flawed fighter, for sure, but most of his bigger issues are also issues for Santos. Both men have some significant cardio issues so the fight could get ugly in a hurry if there’s not an early finish. This is a coin flip fight that could come down to who lands the first good flurry, but Santos needs to prove he’s fully back to earn the benefit of the doubt in a dangerous fight. Pick: Johnny Walker via TKO2
