Thiago Santos will make his long-awaited return to the cage in the main event of UFC Vegas 13 against Glover Teixeira and Cageside Press has its picks set.
| Staff Writers | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ryan Fortune (139-64) |  |  |  |  |
| Jay Anderson (133-70) | | |  | |
| Joe McDonagh (116-75) | | | | |
| Josh Evanoff (114-77) | | | | |
| Dan Doherty (112-86) | | | | |
| Gabriel Gonzalez (113-90) | | | | |
| Dylan Bowker (100-79) | | | | |
| Justin Gibbons (93-74) | | | | |
The last time we saw Thiago Santos, he gave Jon Jones a run for his money in a title fight last July. He suffered major knee injuries in the fight and will make his first appearance since then at UFC Vegas 13. Glover Teixeira just keeps on winning. Since a loss to Corey Anderson in 2018, the Brazilian former title challenger has rattled off four wins with three stoppages. Santos was unanimously picked.
The co-main event continues the rise of Tanner Boser as he takes on longtime veteran Andrei Arlovski. Boser has emerged as an ascending heavyweight star in 2020, knocking out former PFL champion Philipe Lins and prospect Raphael Pessoa in the span of a month this summer. Arlovski recently recovered from a cold streak, winning two of his last three fights. Before that, he had dropped four consecutive fights. All but one writer picked Boser.
Raoni Barcelos and Khalid Taha look to establish themselves as future bantamweight contenders on the main card. Barcelos has made plenty of noise since coming to the UFC, going 4-0 and stopping three of his opponents. Before that, he defeated current UFC talent in Dan Moret and Bobby Moffett in RFA. Taha recovered from a loss in his promotional debut with a pair of impressive stoppages, but the latest was overturned due to a banned substance. Barcelos was unanimously picked.
Opening up the main card will be former title challenger Claudia Gadelha taking on rising contender Xiaonan Yan. Gadelha has won three of her last four, but two of those were controversial split decisions. Yan is an impressive 5-0 in the Octagon with wins over Karolina Kowalkiewicz and Angela Hill most recently. Yan was unanimously picked.
