In what was setting up to be an early lock for Fight of the Night at UFC Fight Night 211, Daniel Santos ended the bout in devastating fashion.
It wasn’t an easy win for Santos (10-2 MMA, 1-1 UFC) on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, but it’s one he is proud of. John Castaneda put Santos in trouble early with sharp strikes on the feet, and heavy ground and pound. The action was so much in favor of Castaneda (19-6 MMA, 2-2 UFC), the referee began to step in closer to monitor the action.
Somehow, Santos rallied.
Not only did Santos quickly shift the momentum of the bout, he caused the aggressive Castaneda to go into retreat mode. In the second round, Santos unleashed a furious combination of punches and landed a crushing knee against the fence that dropped Castaneda for the stoppage at 4:28.
Check out video of the finish below (via Twitter):
THAT WILL DO IT!!
What a finish, what a fight 👏 #UFCVegas61 pic.twitter.com/UGwTV6egyH
— UFC (@ufc) October 1, 2022
Santos, 27, rebounds from a unanimous decision loss to Julio Arce in his promotional debut at UFC 273 in April. During his post-fight interview, he said he would fight again next week, but he has a child on the way so he will take some time to be with his family.
Although he made it an interesting bout, Castaneda walks away with the second loss of his four-fight UFC run. Castaneda entered Saturday’s fight on the heels of back-to-back stoppage wins over Eddie Wineland and Miles Johns.
Up-to-the-minute results of UFC Fight Night 211 include:
- Daniel Santos def. John Castaneda via knockout (knee) – Round 2, 4:28
- Ilir Latifi def. Aleksi Oleinik via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Joaquim Silva def. Jesse Ronson via TKO (punches) – Round 2, 3:02
- Brendan Allen def. Krzysztof Jotko via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 4:17
- Chelsea Chandler def. Julija Stoliarenko via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 4:15
- Guido Cannetti def. Randy Costa via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 1:04
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 211.
