Santos vs Ankalaev

Who won Santos vs Ankalaev?

Magomed Ankalaev beat Thiago Santos by unanimous decision in their 5 round contest during the main event of UFC Fight Night, on Saturday 12th March 2022 at UFC APEX in Las Vegas.

The scorecards were announced as 49-46, 49-46, 48-47 in favor of the winner Magomed Ankalaev.

The fight was scheduled to take place over 5 rounds in the Light Heavyweight division, which meant the weight limit was 205 pounds (14.6 stone or 93 KG).

Santos vs Ankalaev stats

Thiago Santos stepped into the octagon with a record of 22 wins, 9 losses and 0 draws, 15 of those wins coming by the way of knock out and 1 by submission.

Magomed Ankalaev made his way to the cage with a record of 15 wins, 1 loss and 0 draws, 8 of those wins coming by knock out.

This was Thiago Santos' 24th fight in the UFC, having made his debut for the promotion in 2013. Magomed Ankalaev marked his 15th fight for them, having made his own debut for the promotion in 2018.

Thiago Santos' UFC record stood at 14-10-0, while Magomed Ankalaev's came in at 12-1-1.

The stats suggested Santos had an advantage in power over Ankalaev, with a 68% knock out percentage over Ankalaev's 53%.

If the fight went to the ground, their records suggested Santos had a slight advantage over Ankalaev, with a 5% submission rate over Ankalaev's 0%.

Thiago Santos was the older man by 9 years, at 41 years old.

Ankalaev had a height advantage of 1 inch over Santos. Despite this, he had a 1-inch reach advantage.

Santos was the more experienced professional fighter, having had 15 more fights, and made his debut in 2010, 3 years and 1 month earlier than Ankalaev, whose first professional fight was in 2014. He had fought 22 more professional rounds, 82 to Ankalaev's 60.

Santos vs Ankalaev form

Santos had beaten 2 of his last 5 opponents, stopping 1 of them, going to the judges once.

In his last fight leading up to this contest, he had won against Johnny Walker at UFC Vegas 38 on 2nd October 2021 by unanimous decision in their 5 round contest at UFC APEX, Las Vegas, United States.

Previous to that, he had lost to Aleksandar Rakic at UFC 259 on 6th March 2021 by unanimous decision in their 3 round contest at UFC APEX, Las Vegas.

Going into that contest, he had been beaten by Glover Teixeira at UFC Vegas 13 on 7th November 2020 by submission in the 3rd round at UFC APEX, Las Vegas.

Before that, he had been defeated by Jon Jones at UFC 239 on 6th July 2019 by split decision in their UFC Light Heavyweight championship fight at T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas.

He had beaten Jan Blachowicz at UFC on ESPN+ 3 on 23rd February 2019 by knockout in the 3rd round at O2 Arena, Prague, Czech Republic.

Ankalaev had beaten 4 of his last 5 opponents, stopping 2 of them, going the distance twice.

In his last fight before this contest, he had drawn with Jan Blachowicz at UFC 282 on 10th December 2022 by split draw in their 5 round contest in their UFC Light Heavyweight championship fight at T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, United States.

Previous to that, he had defeated Anthony Smith at UFC 277 on 30th July 2022 by knockout in the 2nd round at Madison Square Garden, New York City.

Going into that contest, he was victorious against Thiago Santos at UFC Fight Night on 12th March 2022 by unanimous decision in their 5 round contest at UFC APEX, Las Vegas.

Before that, he had won against Volkan Oezdemir at UFC 267 on 30th October 2021 by unanimous decision in their 3 round contest.

He had beaten Ion Cutelaba at UFC 254 on 24th October 2020 by knockout in the 1st round at UFC Fight Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Activity check

In terms of activity leading into the fight, Magomed Ankalaev had been fighting more than Thiago Santos.

Going to this contest, Thiago Santos had last fought 3 years, 5 months and 28 days ago, while Magomed Ankalaev's last outing had been 2 years, 3 months and 20 days ago.

Santos' last 5 fights had come over a period of 6 years, 1 month and 7 days, meaning he had been fighting on average every 1 year, 2 months and 21 days. In those fights, he fought a total of 19 rounds, meaning that they had lasted 3.8 rounds on average.

Ankalaev's last 5 fights had come over a period of 4 years, 5 months and 6 days, meaning he had been fighting on average every 10 months and 19 days. In those fights, he fought a total of 16 rounds, meaning that they had lasted 3.2 rounds on average.

What were the odds on Santos vs Ankalaev?

Sorry, we couldn’t find any historical odds for Santos vs Ankalaev.