UFC featherweight Gabriel Santos looked to avoid the dreaded three-fight losing streak against Road To UFC winner Yi Zha at UFC Vegas 97 on Saturday night.
Santos (10-2) has had a rough start to his UFC career going 0-2 in his first two. Setbacks against Lerone Murphy and David Onama set him up for a must-win fight againt Yizha.
Yi Zha (25-4) gets his first official UFC bout at UFC Vegas 97 against Santos. The Road To UFC featherweight winner has a considerable experience advantage over Santos and fought to take advantage of that in the fight.
A trade of outside leg kicks and a bit of fisticuffs set the tone early in Gabriel Santos vs. Yi Zha. Santos dropped down, looking to land a sweeping kick, moments later, a combination from the Brazilian would see a right hand connect. Then another nasty outside leg kick. Zha landed a right, but Santos again replied with a combo. A kick briefly sat Zha down; he’d come on strong late in the round, until a front kick dropped Zha against the fence! Somehow, Zha survived the ensuring storm and got back to his feet, though he was almost certainly worse for the wear. In the final 30 seconds, Santos fired a knee to the body, then fell short on a jump knee.
The teeps, push kicks, and occasional high kicks of Santos continued to land for him early in round two. Zha, despite coming under fire early, waved his opponent on. In a change of pace, Santos drove into a takedown, putting Yi Zha on his back. Santos wound up stepping back, and stacking Zha up before re-engaging. He settled into half guard, but Zha would make it out. The ref briefly halted the action, with the doctor checking a cut on Zha that had been opened up due to an elbow. The action was allowed to continue, with the pair fired up, throwing spinning elbows, and jawing after the horn.
Santos came guns blazing to start round three. Zha fired a front kick, and later changed levels for a takedown attempt that was easily stuffed. Santos landed one of his own moments later, however. Zha had his guard closed, and would later try to scramble out, but the end result was Santos taking the back. He got a body triangle in place, with half a round remaining. To Yi Zha’s credit, he would survive to the final horn, but was bloodied and thoroughly beaten in a fun, heated contest.
Official Result: Gabriel Santos def. Yi Zha by unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-27)
