Making a stop off in the women’s bantamweight division, attention
shifts to an interesting stylistic clash pitting a striker against
a lady who likes to submit opponents by any means necessary. Santos
(9-2, 4-1 UFC) at 25 years of age will clock in significantly
younger than 34-year-old Canuck Croden (7-2, 1-0 UFC), and perhaps
because of this, the odds are slightly in the Brazilian’s favor.
Taking charge of this 135-pound affair will be referee Kerry
Hatley, who stands back to let the two bump fists. The ladies stay at kickboxing range to start the fight, taking
turns to land strikes on one another. Santos loops her left hook at
her opponent several times, marking up Croden’s nose in the first
minute of the match. Croden sticks her back with straight lefts and
is prepared to stuff a takedown shot, doing so when Santos shoots.
Santos bull-rushes her and tackles her to the ground with a partial
head-and-arm throw, and she lands in scarf hold position with her
left arm wrapped around the Canadian’s neck. With her free right
hand, Santos smacks Croden in the forehead repeatedly. Croden tries
to muscle her way out of the position, and Hatley warns Santos for
grabbing the glove to keep her foe grounded. Slowly and incredibly smoothly, Croden slips her neck out of
danger, sliding around to Santos’ back. Santos walks off the fence
to get back to her feet, and she gets out of the tie-up and walks
into a body kick. The Brazilian books it towards her adversary,
latching onto a clinch with hopes of chaining it into a body lock.
Santos stays pressed onto Croden, nullifying her and peppering her
with the occasional elbow. Croden turns her about and knees her
back much harder, spamming them to the midsection until she
considers her own single-leg effort at the 10-second clapper. She
does not get it as the horn sounds. Jay Pettry scores the round: 10-9 Santos Dayne Fox scores the round: 10-9 Santos Scottie Smith scores the round: 10-9 Santos

They clap hands to start off the second stanza, and Croden pops
forward to get off a quick calf kick. Croden jabs and sways to
avoid a counter, but Santos steps forward and tags her with a right
hand. When Santos is about to spin for something, Croden pushes out
a front kick that disrupts it entirely. Santos settles herself and
dodges a high kick, but there is something that Croden likes about
that particular strike because she fires it off a few more times to
bang into Santos’ raised guard. Santos is sick of dealing with
those kicks, so she walks her down and bullies her into a clinch.
Croden frames off with elbows to the forehead, and she thwarts the
first takedown effort from the Brazilian in the process. Santos
manages to hurl Croden arse-over-tea-kettle to plant the Canadian
flat on her back, and she climbs into top position. Croden locks down her foe by hooking her arm around Santos’
preventing her from advancing or getting off any noteworthy
offense. Santos methodically climbs through into half guard, but
the butterfly hooks from Croden bring her back into the guard.
Santos prefers to smother rather than strike, while Croden is
looking for any small opportunity to do something, anything, from
her back. Croden’s elbows may be the most effective strikes since
the fight went horizontal, and Santos presses tightly
chest-to-chest until Croden looks for a body triangle and push off
to stand. Santos drops back and snatches up a heel hook, but she
does not have her legs wrapped above the knee, so there is no tight
submission in play. The grueling round ends in this position. Jay Pettry scores the round: 10-9 Santos Dayne Fox scores the round: 10-9 Santos Scottie Smith scores the round: 10-9 Santos

One final high-five from the bantamweights kicks off the last
round, with Croden slowly advancing towards her opponent without
getting reckless. Croden flashes her jab and pitches a low kick
that cannot get grabbed, and suddenly switches stances to let fly a
lead-leg high kick. Santos parries it and clinches, and her first
effort for an outside trip fails. Croden muscles her way off the
fence, and she walks the Brazilian down and lays into her with a
line of punches and a few low kicks. The first counter trip from
Santos comes up short, but her second, another scarf
hold-slash-head-and-arm throw puts Croden feebly on her back.
Santos clings to the scarf hold position, ignoring Croden’s legs
bucking behind her while she imposes her weight to crush on
Croden’s face and neck. Santos paws a few meaningless punches off the forehead that are
more like tapping her on the head than actually intent on causing
damage, and Croden’s bucks and kicks with all her might. Santos
continues leaning on Croden’s face, doing practically zero damage
but racking up control time. It is a miserable round to watch, and
likely even worse for the hapless Croden. Before time runs out,
Santos sits up and lifts an arm to scream to the crowd about her
impending victory. When the 15-minute contest does mercifully
conclude, Santos shouts and celebrates as if she just won the Super
Bowl. Jay Pettry scores the round: 10-9 Santos (30-27 Santos) Dayne Fox scores the round: 10-9 Santos (30-27 Santos) Scottie Smith scores the round: 10-9 Santos (30-27 Santos)

The final match among women comes at the 135-pound division, as
Santos (8-2, 3-1 UFC) moves up in weight to challenge “Thai
Panther” Lisboa (7-2, 2-0 UFC). The former saw her solid win streak
come to a halt last August because of Casey O’Neill, but she can
play spoiler to Lisboa and her own five-fight victorious stretch.
Referee Herb Dean will be on call for this bantamweight battle, and
the countrywomen touch ‘em up before getting down to business.
Lisboa measures with her jab right off the bat, pressuring her
opponent and throwing a kick at the same time Santos does. They jab
at one another; Lisboa catches a kick to counter over the top.
Santos sneaks in a left hand, swaying and moving as Lisboa tries to
counter. Santos sticks out a front kick too long, but this is
intentional as it distracts Lisboa enough and makes her try to
throw back. She uses this to set up a takedown, where she bowls
Lisboa over and climbs into side control. Santos uses a scarf hold
to look to pass to mount, and instead gladly assumes north-south
position. Lisboa tries to crawl out the back by throwing her legs
up and around the back, but Santos calmly works out of it and puts
herself flat in half guard. Lisboa pushes off the cage to try to
get to a better position, and Santos is simultaneously looking to
step into mount. This results in a stalemate, with little offense
coming as Santos would rather take a dominant position. She rolls
Lisboa over to try to take her back, but Lisboa calmly works to her
knees. When Lisboa reaches her feet, the horn sounds. Jay Pettry scores the round: 10-9 Santos Brian Knapp scores the round: 10-9 Santos Tristen Critchfield scores the round: 10-9 Santos

While they do touch gloves, Lisboa is rushing forward to get going
and try to make up lost ground. She backs Santos off with her jab,
and she fakes a knee and scores a body kick with her other leg.
Santos times a one-two down the pipe, and she scoots away. When
Lisboa sets her feet down to engage, Santos counters her over the
top. As Lisboa commits to strikes, a half-hearted front kick from
her leaves her wide open to the takedown. Santos gladly accepts
this and puts Lisboa on her back, where she is immediately in high
side control as she wraps her arms around her foe’s head with a
scarf hold. Lisboa tries again to wrap her legs up and around to
get the back, but she does not have the same flexibility and energy
as she did the last round to get anywhere. Santos holds her down in
the scarf hold position, not using it for submission purposes but
instead grinding it and just making Lisboa’s life generally
miserable. All of Lisboa’s flailing leg movements do nothing to
improve her position, as Santos is so high up on her body
flattening her out. Every so often, Santos thumps her foe with
short right hands, but no blow has any significant impact. Santos
considers isolating Lisboa’s right arm, but this allows Lisboa to
turn her body. As Lisboa keeps turning, she inadvertently gives up
her back, and Santos wraps her legs around the waist and has both
hooks in. Santos climbs to maintain partial back control that she
uses to slip into full mount, and she drops down a punch or two
before suffocating Lisboa further. Santos uses heavy chest pressure
to keep Lisboa pinned, but she is not willing to take the risk of
posturing up far. With seconds left on the clock, Santos does not ride it out and
instead latches on to a keylock and/or Americana. Lisboa clings to
her left arm, which is starting to torque badly as one can imagine
tendons and ligaments screaming out from the unusual tension.
Santos cranks with all she has, and Lisboa taps out of the sight of
Dean and then speaks out. Dean confirms with her that
it was a surrender and separates the two, with Santos notching the
buzzer-beating submission that has become a rarity inside the
Octagon and even more infrequent among women—remarkably, the first
for a female UFC fighter.

Once an uber-hot prospect at the women’s flyweight division, the
excitement and momentum have cooled for O'Neill (9-2, 4-2 UFC), who
comes into this fight as the crowd favorite despite her birth
country being Scotland. While the Xtreme Couture product has lost
her last two, Brazil’s Santos (8-1, 3-0 UFC) is flying high, winner
of five straight including three in the Octagon. Taking charge of
this bout will be referee Rich Mitchell, and he clocks the ladies
in as they opt to touch gloves. O'Neill lashes out with an early
low kick and punches her way into range, and she slips back to
dodge counterpunches. O'Neill kicks the front leg again, only to be
met with a left hook. Santos chips back at the front leg twice,
with O'Neill trying to line up a right hand back her direction.
Santos holds her arm out and swings with the other behind it, and
she kicks and gets thrown to the floor. The two scramble right back
to their feet, and Santos holds on with a standing guillotine choke
to bully O'Neill to the fence. Santos presses hard against the cage
wall, slipping around to take the back and attack a single from
behind. O'Neill keeps her balance and knees her foe in the torso a
few times, only to be lifted up with responsive knees. O'Neill
pushes off of Santos’ face to separate, and she walks Santos down
and connects with a trio of punches and a chopping calf kick.
Santos clips her with a right hand over the top, and she lands
flush with a few punches while O'Neill wants to slug it out with
her. Santos kicks the body and scurries away to avoid any counters,
and O'Neill marches her down and kicks her front leg. O'Neill wings
a right hand, but a straight left is more accurate. O'Neill
connects with three punches, forcing Santos to bounce off the wall.
They both let their hands go, with O'Neill landing first and
harder. O'Neill clubs her opponent with overhand rights as Santos
tries to kick, and she gets knocked off-balance but throws back
hard to make Santos bounce off the cage wall again. They land at
the same time, and O'Neill tries to time one such meeting with a
knee. Santos misses a jumping switch kick, and she has a spinning
back fist blocked. O'Neill walks Santos down and punches her in the
face a few more times until the round ends. Jay Pettry scores the round: 10-9 O'Neill Brian Knapp scores the round: 10-9 O'Neill Tristen Critchfield scores the round: 10-9 O'Neill

Jay Pettry scores the round: 10-9 O'Neill Brian Knapp scores the round: 10-9 O'Neill Tristen Critchfield scores the round: 10-9 O'Neill

Fists are touched, and the fight resumes almost exactly where it
ended in the last round. O'Neill clubs Santos with a short
combination, and Santos tries and fails to get her back. Santos
jabs out and is met with counters, and she leaps forward to get off
a right hand. The Brazilian jabs the body, and O'Neill walks her
down and busts her in the chops with a series of punches. O'Neill
loads up on power punches that knock Santos around, but Santos is
tough as can be and wears them well. Santos misses with a right
hand, allowing O'Neill to counter her with a power right. O'Neill
strings together a few punches and a knee, and Santos is the slower
of the two and almost never strikes first. O'Neill jabs high, low
and then wings a right hand that gets around the guard. O'Neill
allows Santos to come to her so she can meet her with harder blows,
with effective right hands that continue to find their home.
Punches are traded, and Santos suddenly does not like what is
happening and she tries to take the fight down with an ill-advised
head lock. O'Neill spins her around and counters a twister setup,
resulting in her taking the Brazilian’s back with a quick body
triangle set up. Santos hand-fights to prevent any choke from
coming anywhere close, but she gets softened up with strikes from
both sides. Santos is warned for grabbing inside of the glove, and
Mitchell pauses the fight to tell her what is not allowed even
though fighters are given instructions before every fight. Santos
looks upset that she was called on it, and O'Neill hangs on after
the restart to continue working. O'Neill wraps a rear-naked choke
grip on the jaw and ends up with a face crank, and she thwacks
Santos on the kidney with heel kicks until time expires. Jay Pettry scores the round: 10-9 O'Neill (30-27 O'Neill) Brian Knapp scores the round: 10-9 O'Neill (30-27 O'Neill) Tristen Critchfield scores the round: 10-9 O'Neill (30-27
O'Neill)

Momentum is the name of the game for this upcoming flyweight tilt,
as Santos (7-1, 2-0 UFC) has some behind her as the winner of four
straight. Her adversary Agapova (10-4, 2-3 UFC) has struggled as of
late, dropping two in a row by submission while not competing since
September 2022. This classic matchup of Brazil vs. Kazakhstan will
receive oversight from referee Joe Coca, and a clap of hands
commences it. Agapova looks for strikes well out of range, and
Santos reaches her with a body kick. Agapova stays back, leaping
forward with a right hand and missing again. Santos closes in and
connects with a pair of strikes, and Agapova dances away. Agapova
jabs feet away from the target, and Santos strides forward brimming
with confidence and decks Agapova with a right hand. Agapova climbs
back to her feet, and Santos slings her right back down to the mat
with emphasis. The Brazilian commits to an arm-triangle choke as
she gets to half guard, and lets it go so she can facilitate a
guard pass to the side. Agapova tries to use her legs to trap
Santos in something and pull her back, but when this fails, Santos
steps over into full mount and goes after an arm-triangle
immediately. Santos gets the grip tight, and Agapova signals a
thumbs-up and turns to the side to protect herself, all while
coughing out her mouthpiece to breathe better. Santos resets and
presses down, bailing on it to land a few body shots and then
re-fastening the submission. Agapova keeps her mouthpiece barely in
her teeth and turns around to get to her knees. Santos follows her every step of the way and locks up the
rear-naked choke in the blink of an eye. Agapova nearly lets her
gumshield fall out of her mouth in desperation while fighting the
hands, but there is nothing more she can do at this point. Agapova
frantically taps and completely spits her mouthpiece
out as she feels consciousness leaving her body, and Coca rushes
between them to conclude the fight. Santos jumps away and starts
dancing, and the crowd eats it up.

The final women’s bout on the card comes at a catchweight of 139
pounds, as former flyweight Santos (6-1, 1-0 UFC) tipped the scales
three pounds heavy for her bantamweight bout against Egger (8-4,
3-3 UFC). The Swiss woman will come out with a heavier bag of cash
than expected, as Santos has surrendered 20% of her fight purse as
a result. The cage commander for this clash will be referee Herb
Dean. There is an apologetic touch of gloves offered by the heavy
woman to get things started, and it is accepted. Santos leads off
with rangy, awkward strikes from strange angles. Egger keeps her
guard high and parries most of the strikes that come her way, as
Santos is overextending and winging strikes from various
directions. Santos crowds her way in, throwing a clubbing right
hand to get Egger’s attention, and she backs her off with a front
kick. Egger shakes it off and plods forward, sticking out a jab and
a right hand. Egger reaches out, dings the Brazilian on the cheek,
and accidentally hooks her finger into Santos’ top. Dean allows
them to reset so there is no wardrobe malfunction, and they return
to their tit-for-tat striking exchanges. Egger pushes in and drives
a knee to the chest, and Santos stops a throw attempt and turns
Egger around. The two trade knees on the inside, and trip attempts
fail from both sides. Egger gets a bit of space away from the cage
as they continue to knee one another in the belly, and Santos keeps
her hands on the Swiss woman to otherwise shut her down. Egger
connects with a heel kick to the thigh and knees up the middle hard
enough to stun Santos for a second, and she times a knee on the
chin when Santos ducks down. The uneventful round ends with the two
tied up. Jay Pettry scores the round: 10-9 Santos Brian Knapp scores the round: 10-9 Santos Tyler Treese scores the round: 10-9 Santos

The two clap hands to get the second round started, and Egger paws
out a jab shortly thereafter. Santos responds with three leg kicks,
and Egger swings so hard that she falls on her hands. Santos cannot
capitalize on this mistake, instead backing off to let the Swiss
fighter stand back up. Egger slowly plods forward before swinging
an overhand right at her foe, and this leads to a clinch to pick up
where they left off, only with Egger the one pressing. Santos spins
away, but she takes a knee on the break. Santos sticks out a
one-two, and a low kick comes after it. Egger catches a front kick
and lines up a right hand, and Santos shakes her head and continues
throwing. Egger wings reckless punches, and Santos tries and fails
to time a trip. The Brazilian settles for pushing Egger against the
fence, until she manages to toss Egger to the canvas. Egger stands
back up, fighting off hooks that Santos attempts to slide in, but
Santos has her gripped from behind. Santos looks to drag Egger down
from behind, until she turns to the side and gloms her full body
weight on Egger. Egger attempts a Thai plum clinch, but Santos
fights off the hands before Egger can knee her on the chin. Santos
changes levels, but Egger fights this off and separates. Santos
throws several punches and lands one, and Egger awkwardly throws
back. Santos gets in two more left hands, and Egger cannot find her
way in as Santos pecks at her and jabs her. Egger ignores the blows
and chains three strong punches together that get Santos’
attention, leading Santos to force a clinch. Egger hacks with a
downward elbow to try for any offense while pinned against the
wire, and the round comes to a close. Jay Pettry scores the round: 10-9 Egger Brian Knapp scores the round: 10-9 Egger Tyler Treese scores the round: 10-9 Egger

There is one final clap of hands to start the round, and Egger
pushes on the accelerator and bullies Santos back. Santos reaches
with long jabs, and Egger grabs hold of her to knee her twice. The
Brazilian takes advantage of this position by hip tossing Egger to
the mat, dropping Egger right on her head. Santos looks for a scarf
hold from there, but Egger deftly fights it off and forces her way
back to the feet. As soon as Egger pushes Santos to the fence, Dean
calls them to work. Santos muscles Egger around to press her back
against the wall, and she peppers with light knees and foot stomps
until Dean asks them for more activity. Santos continues to impose
her weight until Dean steps in, and Santos takes a very deep
breath. Egger thanks Dean for this by rushing after Santos, and she
blasts Santos in the face with a long combination. When Santos
walks away, Egger stands still, until the Swiss woman wades back
into combat. Santos times this with a level change, and although
she cannot get the fight to the mat, she squeezes the aggressive
Egger against the cage. Santos knees the thigh and stomps Egger’s
foot, and Dean continues to call for more work. With Santos doing
nothing, Dean splits them up at the 45-second mark. Egger pushes
forward until Santos attempts a takedown. Egger turns the corner
and drags Santos to her knees, landing left hands as time ticks off
the clock. A few pitter-patter strikes from Egger conclude the
lackluster match. Jay Pettry scores the round: 10-9 Egger (29-28 Egger) Brian Knapp scores the round: 10-10 (29-29) Tyler Treese scores the round: 10-9 Egger (29-28 Egger)

Fight fans have now passed the midpoint of what will be the longest
stretch of consecutive UFC weekends, and there are only seven to go
including UFC on ESPN 51. This will be the last event in the Apex
until its streak-ending Sept. 23 show, and it is certainly a fight
card. As mentioned in a previous article, 15 of the 26 fighters
tonight are coming in having lost their last bouts, and eight of
those have dropped two in a row or more. It all starts with
grappler-on-grappler action in the women’s flyweight division, as
“The Ultimate Fighter” Season 30 victor Miller (3-2, 1-1 UFC) looks
to lift her promotional record above .500. She takes on promotional
newcomer Santos (5-1, 0-0 UFC), who made her way to the UFC not
through the Contender Series or any of the other feeder programs,
but from the LFA. This opening bout draws the assignment of referee
Jason Herzog, and it begins without a touch of gloves as Miller
charges like a bull. The two ladies immediately start swinging, and
Miller snaps the head back with a few heavy blows. Miller’s
aggression leads her into a clinch, where she immediately presses
onto her opponent while kneeing her in the gut. Santos turns the
corner and splits apart, and she resets. Miller walks her down,
stutter-stepping her way in and throwing hammers. Santos sits down
on a right hand to catch her on the way in, but Miller completely
ignores it and keeps on storming forward. Miller puts her hands on
Santos’ face, not landing with any individually damaging blow, but
getting Santos’ attention. The Brazilian woman steels herself and
launches a bomb of a right hand that bangs right into Miller’s
temple, rocking “Killer.” Santos does not let her foe off the hook,
as she slugs away and even mixes in a head kick as Miller leans her
back to the wall to stay upright. Miller leans forward to try to
slow things down, and Santos snatches up a guillotine choke that
ends up with the two ladies landing on the mat. Santos releases her
grip to allow them back to their feet, and she stays right in
Miller’s grill throwing hands. Santos belts her foe in the jaw a
few times, and Miller wobbles back to the wall and tries to counter
but is only flailing. Santos smashes Miller in the face, and Miller
reels and is in big trouble. Santos pours it on with fists flying,
and she connects repeatedly and does not care about anything Miller
gives back to her. Herzog is taking a close eye on the action, and
Santos tries to force a stoppage by laying into Miller with
everything she has. The punches keep coming, and Miller drops to a knee and fights her
way back up. Miller may be out on her feet, and Santos continues
busting her in the chops until Herzog has seen enough. This is a statement performance for the debuting Santos, who earns
her first career knockout in her biggest fight to date. Meanwhile,
she also becomes the first fighter to finish the TUF victor as a
professional.

Luana Santos

Fight History

Fighter Skills Radar

Key Insights

Striking Profile

Key Insights

Grappling Profile

Key Insights

Conclusions Summary