UFC Fight Night: Santos vs. Teixeira Preview

A collision between two Brazilian warriors goes down this Saturday, November 7 in the UFC APEX arena. Thiago Santos (21-7) returns to action for the first time since his title fight defeat against former champion Jon Jones. Standing across the cage will be Glover Teixeira (31-7), the veteran fighter has had a late career resurgence, and could find himself in a title fight with a win against Santos in the light heavyweight division.

The winner of this main event will be in prime position for a shot at the light heavyweight title held by Jan Blachowicz. Santos carries big power and has already accumulated 15 knockouts so far in his career. His opponent, Glover Teixeira is a veteran of the game and a very underrated martial artist. The Brazilian has a very well rounded game, he’s got heavy hands, good wrestling and an excellent submission game.

Injuries and cancelled bouts have hindered Santos in his attempt to return to action after his title defeat. The former middleweight will give away some size here but is the quicker and more explosive striker. Teixeira won’t hesitate to trade early here but most likely will try to implement his wrestling game to try and get Santos on his back. That I feel is the best path to victory for Teixeira while Santos will look to keep it standing and try to win by knockout. The bout will be a fascinating encounter and I’m excited to see how it all unfolds.

Two heavyweights will collide in the co-main event when veteran Andrei Arlovski (29-19) goes up against Canadian man Tanner Boser (19-6-1). In a bantamweight division Brazilian Raoni Barcelos (15-1) will test his skills against Khalid Taha (13-2) who fights out of Germany. Ian Heinisch (14-3) and Brendan Allen (15-3) will thrown down in the middleweight division. A cracking strawweight scrap between Cláudia Gadelha (18-4) and the highly touted Xiaonan Yan (12-1) will open up the main card.

Georgian fighter and former kickboxing star Giga Chikadze (11-2) will look to stay undefeated under the UFC banner. He takes on Jamey Simmons (7-2) in the featherweight division. Trevin Giles and Bevon Lewis will square off at 185 pounds. Undefeated Moldovan prospect Alexander Romanov (12-0) makes his UFC debut, he faces off against Brazilian Marcos Rogério de Lima (17-6-1) in the heavyweight division.

“The Damage” Darren Elkins (24-9) is alway entertaining to watch with his kill or be killed attitude. The American will take Uruguayan based fighter Eduardo Garagorri (13-1) in the 145 pound division. A welterweight encounter takes place when Max Griffin (15-8) goes up against Ramiz Brahimaj (8-2), the opening bout of the evening is a bantamweight battle featuring Gustavo Lopez (11-5) who takes on Anthony Birchak (15-6).

See below for the official fight card.

This event will be broadcast on BT Sport 1 in the UK. Their coverage will start with a ‘Fight Night Preview’ show at 12:30am on Sunday ahead of the prelims. Their main show will start at 3am ahead of Santos v Teixeira. The show will be live streamed on BT Sport’s website and app.

Official Fight Card

Main Card

Light Heavyweight: Thiago Santos vs. Glover Teixeira
Heavyweight: Andrei Arlovski vs. Tanner Boser
Middleweight: Ian Heinisch vs. Brendan Allen
Bantamweight: Raoni Barcelos vs. Khalid Taha
Women’s Strawweight: Cláudia Gadelha vs. Yan Xiaonan

Preliminary card

Middleweight: Trevin Giles vs. Bevon Lewis
Featherweight: Giga Chikadze vs. Jamey Simmons
Heavyweight: Marcos Rogério de Lima vs. Alexander Romanov
Featherweight: Darren Elkins vs. Luiz Eduardo Garagorri
Welterweight: Max Griffin vs. Ramiz Brahimaj