A wild set of fights was capped off last night (Sat., Sept. 22, 2018) at UFC Fight Night 137 live on FOX Sports 1 from inside Ibirapuera Gymnasium in Sao Paulo, Brazil, by a main event clash between former middleweights Thiago Santos and Eryk Anders, which ultimately saw “Marreta” capture a third-round TKO win.
After two rounds of back-and-forth action, Santos took control towards the end of the third. Anders was deep into a takedown attempt when the Brazilian started to launch hard elbows to the side of the head. Anders started to fade but lasted the final seconds of the round.
It wasn’t until Anders tried to get back up and walk to his corner that fight fans noticed how badly hurt the former college football player really was. After seeing Anders fall back to his knees twice as he attempted to return to his stool the referee stepped in and called the fight.
Check out the full fight video highlights above courtesy of UFC.
With this performance, Santos enters the 205-pound division in fashion. The 34-year-old veteran looked really good tonight against a quality opponent and has a bright future at light heavyweight, even though he’s historically more dangerous at 185 pounds. It will be interesting to see how the promotion uses “Marreta” moving forward and if this win has earned him another main event bid.
For complete UFC Sao Paulo results and coverage click here.