Featherweights Doo-Ho Choi and Daniel Santos anchored the UFC Vegas 117 co-main event at the Meta Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday, with South Korea’s Choi returning from an extended absence.
Having been booked against one another once before, the fight had been brewing for a while; Santos, meanwhile, held wins over two other Korean talents, leading to an unofficial nickname of the “Korean Killer.” A nickname Choi very much wanted to erase.
The opening round saw Santos walk down Choi throwing powerful punches while pressing forward. Significant bleeding started pouring out of Choi’s nose near the end of the round, after Santos connected with a big uppercut exiting the clinch. After the first five minutes Santos jumped out to an early lead in the fight.
In the second, Choi came out with a renewed sense of urgency and began working behind a stiff jab. Now controlling the pace of the fight Choi was able to defend a takedown with a minute remaining. Choi then returned to his feet and landed a big right hand behind a double jab that rocked Santos. While Santos was retreating to the cage, Choi landed a picture perfect body shot that sat down the Brazilian prospect. Ending the fight with a body shot TKO, Choi extended his winning streak to three with the win.
Choi called out Patricio Pitbull in his post fight interview with Daniel Cormier, which would be another all action fight fans won’t want to miss.
Official Result: Doo Ho Choi def. Daniel Santos via R2 TKO, 4:29
