The best and worst from UFC 231: Holloway vs. Ortega

#2 Best: The war between Manuwa and Santos

Thiago Santos might be the most exciting fighter in MMA right now

On paper, the fight between Thiago Santos and Jimi Manuwa looked like a classic war between a pair of fighters who could be considered ‘glass cannons’ – both men can hit like few others in the 205lbs division, but they’ve also shown a lot of vulnerability to big shots too. Well, the fight lived up to all the hype and would’ve easily won the Fight of the Night award had it not been for the main event.

Santos came out swinging and hurt Manuwa early, and at one point it looked like ‘Poster Boy’ wouldn’t last the first minute. The Brit hung in there though and came absolutely roaring back, hurting ‘Marreta’ and having him on the verge of going out, too. When the fight went to the second round, two things were clear – firstly that it was anyone’s fight, and secondly that it’d be a miracle if it made it to the third round.

Well, it certainly didn’t – a left uppercut-right hook-left hook combination put Manuwa down early in the round and he was clearly done. It was probably the night’s most violent finish and will go down as one of 2018’s best knockouts.

Where Manuwa goes from here is anyone’s guess as he’s now pushing 40 and has been badly hurt in his last 3 fights, but for Santos, the only way is up. He destroyed #3 ranked Anthony Smith in February, albeit at 185lbs, and it’s hard to see him not being capable of doing that again.

He’s clearly a legitimate contender at 205lbs and in such a thin division, a title fight might not be so far away. If he does get that far, I don’t think anyone could complain – he’s arguably the most exciting fighter to watch in the whole sport right now.