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Taila Santos is on the verge of creating her PFL debut, which is one thing most didn’t see coming just some months again.
The previous UFC title challenger unexpectedly exited late final 12 months as one of many greater names and high contenders within the girls’s flyweight division. Neither the promotion nor Santos (19-3) gave a lot of an evidence relating to her shock exit till now.
Forward of 2024 PFL 1, which marks her first battle since departing from the UFC, Santos gave her facet of the story and defined why she is not within the UFC.
“Yeah, I used to be within the UFC, however I wasn’t very completely satisfied,” Santos told MMA Junkie in Portuguese. “Every part began after I fought for the belt towards Valentina (Shevchenko). I clearly gained that battle, and it was one of many first powerful fights Valentina had ever had in her profession. No different fighter had finished what I did towards her.
“I used to be capable of take her all the way down to the bottom and hold her there, whereas additionally blocking her assaults on the toes. So many individuals needed to see the rematch, and the followers have been asking for it. I imagine I deserved the rematch, the chance, but it surely didn’t occur.”
Santos lost by split decision to Valentina Shevchenko in a UFC girls’s flyweight championship bout in June 2022. It was a really aggressive battle, and arguably Shevchenko’s hardest title protection at the moment. Many thought the Brazilian had finished sufficient to defeat the then-champion.
Not getting the rematch towards Shevchenko didn’t sit properly with Santos, however there was greater than that.
“There have been additionally some uncomfortable facets round dates and the calendar,” Santos mentioned. “I’d battle as soon as, after which there could be no dates, and I must wait, and there have been simply so many delays. There wasn’t a calendar. It was quite a lot of ready after every battle, and I wasn’t completely satisfied. So I simply selected to battle out my contract and never renew.”
Santos takes on Ilara Joanne (11-8) for her PFL debut at Boeing Middle in San Antonio this Thursday. It’s a part of the primary spherical of fights of the 2024 girls’s flyweight season.
The 30-year-old is worked up to compete for the ladies’s flyweight title and the $1 million prize. She’s completely satisfied together with her choice to transition from UFC to PFL.
“That is tremendous cool,” Santos mentioned. “Like I mentioned, I used to be conscious of PFL earlier than, they usually’re rising on daily basis. It’s very cool, they usually’re leveling up very properly, it’s large. I’m very completely satisfied to have acquired this contract and to be a part of an amazing group that’s rising every occasion. For positive, it’s going to continue to grow on daily basis.”
For extra on the cardboard, go to MMA Junkie’s occasion hub for PFL 2024, Week 1.
Try the Hablemos MMA YouTube channel for Spanish-language movies and interviews with MMA Junkie’s Danny Segura.
Make sure to go to the MMA Junkie Instagram web page and YouTube channel to debate this and extra content material with followers of combined martial arts.
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