Thiago Santos Doesn’t Care if Jimi Manuwa is Heavier Fighter

Thiago Santos doesn’t have a care in the world about the difference in weight class between himself and Jimi Manuwa.

On Sept. 22, Santos will collide with Manuwa in the main event of UFC Sao Paulo. Manuwa was scheduled to take on Glover Teixeira, but Teixeira went down due to an injury. Santos, a middleweight, stepped up to take the fight. At first, Manuwa was hesitant on taking the fight but decided to sign the bout agreement.

Santos recently spoke to Combate on the match-up and said the “Poster Boy’s” size doesn’t worry him:

“I don’t care that he fights at a heavier weight class. I accepted it on the spot. I was struggling with my weight cut anyway. I already fought several times this year and was cutting weight without too much time between my fights and this opportunity came up. I don’t choose opponents. I mean it. He’s a real top-5 guy and a knockout artist. I can’t underestimate Manuwa, he’s heavy-handed and he comes after your, I feel like it’ll be a great fight. Big challenges get me more excited. The harder it is or when people say I’ll lose, that’s when I’m the most motivated.”

Santos has gone 5-1 in his last six outings. In that span, he’s defeated Jack Marshman, Gerald Meerschaert, Jack Hermansson, Anthony Smith, and Kevin Holland. His only loss in that span was to David Branch.

Meanwhile for Manuwa, he’s looking to avoid his third straight loss. He’s fallen short in bouts against Volkan Oezdemir and Jan Blachowicz. His last victory was back in March 2017 against Corey Anderson.