As always I’m here with the PPV main card fight previews to get you guys ready for the UFC 130 event this weekend in Las Vegas, Nevada. The first fight up for this event is a middleweight fight between Brian Stann and former Sengoku middleweight champion Jorge Santiago.
Brian Stann comes into this fight on a two fight winning streak, blitzing the iron chinned Chris Leben in the very first round to win via KO earlier this year. He has an overall record of (10-3) with 7 wins via KO/TKO and one submission to his credit. Stann is a big athletic guy who used to fight as a light heavyweight, so he should have a size advantage over Santiago. Stann brings good power in his hands and continuously looks to improve each outing as evident in his first career submission win last year.
Jorge Santiago comes into this fight with an overall record of (23-8) with 9 wins via KO/TKO and 12 wins via submission. Santiago fought in the UFC back in 2006 going (1-2) before being released from the promotion. The two losses were KO losses to the aforementioned Chris Leben and Alan Belcher, both fairly heavy handed strikers. Santiago went on to go (11-2) after his first UFC stint, avenging the only loss just four months later. Santiago is well rounded and can end the fight anywhere as evident by his 91% finishing rate in his wins.
Linesmaker has the betting lines in this fight at (even) for Santiago and (-130) for Stann.
Santiago has been gone from the UFC for quite some time and a lot of things have changed. The crowds have gotten larger, the fighters are better now, but he has improved as a fighter since then as well. This fight is going to come down to how he mentally handles the return to the big show and can he avoid Stann’s power?Many of Santiago’s losses came early in his career, but many of them have one common theme. He got knocked out and that’s exactly what Stann will be trying to do. He’s not going to be looking for takedowns and will not be looking to submit Santiago.
Santiago has good power as well, and we’ve seen Stann rocked before so it wouldn’t be out of the question to see Santiago have success standing either. Santiago likes to throw that big overhand right to close the distance and then clinch to initiate a takedown, and he may do so to try and capitalize on his advantage on the ground against Stann. Stann certainly doesn’t want to be on his back with Santiago on top of him trying to defend Santiago’s submission game. I like Stann in this fight simply because he has good power and Santiago’s chin is somewhat suspect. If Santiago is able to avoid Stann’s power and get him to the ground that would be to his advantage. However, I see Stann sprawling and brawling his way to victory in this one.