Thiago Santos knows he beat Jon Jones, wants a rematch
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Thiago Santos nearly shocked the world at UFC 239. There, he was taking on arguably the greatest fighter of all-time in Jon Jones, where many expected “Bones” to dominate. Yet, that is far from what happened, as many thought the Brazilian won the fight, and even won on one judge’s scorecards.
Although UFC president, Dana White doesn’t agree with the scorecard, as he and Jones thought it was a blowout, Santos does not agree. He thinks he won three rounds and should be the UFC’s light heavyweight champion right now.
“Yes, I saw it once last week. It’s difficult for me to watch. That’s why it took me so long to watch it. If I was a judge, I would have given that fight to Thiago Santos. I think I won Rounds 1, 2 and 5,” Santos said to ESPN. “I think the fact Jones was the champion weighed on the judges’ decision, I think the challenger has to do more to take the belt from the champion. There has to be a rematch. As soon as I am 100 percent, we have to get back in there and find out a real winner.”
Whether or not he gets a rematch is to be seen. Jon Jones has said he will give Thiago Santos a rematch, but White did not feel the same way. Instead, the Brazilian isn’t worried about that. Rather, he is just focusing on healing up and recovering.
“It’s difficult because of the way the UFC looks at decisions some times, but I’m not focused on that right now,” he explained. I’m focused on recovering, and when I’m healthy, my focus will still be on becoming a champion. I will come back strong and accomplish that.”
Of course, Santos had torn every ligament in his knee during the fight and had a noticeable limp. His knee buckled on numerous occasions and had knee surgery on both knees after the fight. How he was still able to fight and hang with Jones is remarkable.
How the knee injury hindered his performance
Yet, he will now be sidelined for close to a year due to him pushing his knee in that fight. But, if he had the chance, he says he would do it all again.
“Certainly the more I kept trying, the worse it made things. The damage I did was worse,” he explained. “I had to keep changing sides and putting more weight on the other knee, which is how I hurt the other knee. The decision to keep fighting caused a lot more damage, no question. Yes, I would do it again.”
Although he would do it again, he knows the injury played a factor in this fight, that should they rematch it would be different.
“It hampered what I had done best up to that point, which was my movement — going in and out, exploding in. I wasn’t able to use my strongest weapon because of it, so it really did hamper me in the fight,” Santos explained. “That’s me, though. I wasn’t going to give up. I wasn’t going to stop, even on one leg. It became a mental thing. That’s just where I come from and what I’ve lived through. I was born in the Brazilian slums, and don’t forget, I spent seven years in the Brazilian special forces. There is no giving up. It’s not an option.”
“My whole life has been like that. When I was 6, I had a serious operation on my belly. I had two lumps — two cysts — around my belly button, and in those days, people didn’t know how to treat it,” he continued. “I ended up being saved by surgery two weeks before the cysts might have killed me. When I was 10, my family lost everything we owned in a flood. My life has been full of obstacles.”
For now, Thiago Santos is just healing up from his injury, but knows he beat Jon Jones a month ago and wants the rematch when he is healthy.
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The Scrap’s Cole Shelton is a full-time MMA writer for various news outlets. Make sure to follow Cole on Twitter (@ColeShelton91) for a variety of content.
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