We officially have a new contender in the Light Heavyweight division.
Thiago Santos (21-6) defeated Jan Blachowicz (23-8) via third-round knockout.
It was an impressive performance by Santos, who now has a four-fight winning streak and has won eight of his past nine contests. That streak has included several notable names including Jimi Manuwa, Eryk Anders and title challenger Anthony Smith who Santos knocked out in the second round of their contest.
The loss for Blachowicz will end his four fight win streak.
The contest started off a bit tentatively as both men did not want to open up just yet. Things began to heat up in the first round as Santos began to land a few shots, one in which seemed to momentarily stun his opponent. Blachowicz tried to change the pace of the fight by bringing things down to the mat but to no avail. It was clear that Santos had the edge in terms of boxing ability but in the following round Blachowicz found a bit of success as he began to land a ton of kicks and did a good job of making Santos miss with some of his shots upstairs.
Just when Blachowicz seemed to be gaining all of the momentum round three changed everything.
Santos landed a huge left hand while going backwards that put Blachowicz down on the canvas. Santos then followed that up with hammer fists on the ground while Blachowicz covered up and was unable to respond. The referee stepped in to put an end to the contest.
As soon as the bout ended Santos made a gesture as to say he wanted his shot at a title. With Santos winning in such a dominant fashion and on an impressive run he seems to be on his way to getting a shot at the title very soon.
