After three weeks on the road through July, the UFC returns to the APEX in Las Vegas for UFC Fight Night: Santos vs Hill. In the main event, No.6 Thiago “Marreta” and No.10 Jamahal “Sweet Dreams” Hill are heading in different directions in the light heavyweight division, and Saturday may confirm their trajectories, with Hill as the fortunate one on the rise. Their fight will be supported by a co-main event welterweight bout between No.6 Vicente “The Silent Assassin” Luque and No. 13 Geoff “Handz of Steel” Neal, where Luque looks to prevent preserve his spot just outside of the top five and keep his title hopes alive.
Watch UFC Fight Night: Santos vs Hill
- When: Saturday, August 6, 2022
- Prelims Start Time: 7 p.m. EST / 4 p.m. PST
- Main Card Start Time: 10 p.m. EST / 7 p.m. PST
- Location: UFC APEX – Las Vegas, Nevada
- How to Watch: ESPN / ESPN+
The first event after a pay-per-view card always feels underwhelming, and after what happened at UFC 277: Peña vs Nunes 2 last weekend, but this Saturday is different. Titles are on the line for season 30 of The Ultimate Fighter on Saturday as this year’s top heavyweights Zac Pauga and Mohammed Usman and women’s flyweights Brogan Walker and Juliana Miller contribute to the main card.
A frequent tweeter during UFC events, Terrance McKinney stands out on the preliminary card as a massive favorite (-850) against Erick Gonzalez who will look to beat the odds. McKinney had secured first-round victories in his first two UFC fights before having the favor returned by Drew Dober in March
Santos vs Hill Main Event Preview
A light heavyweight contest for positioning in the division, Hill (10-1-0, 1 NC) can gain some ground with a win as he looks to continue his campaign toward a title shot. With a 4-1 record in the UFC, he has won his last two fights since Paul Craig halted his momentum last summer at UFC 263: Adesanya vs Vettori 2. Hill will be looking for an early finish on Saturday, as anything past the first three rounds would certainly be a test for him.
Who will leave #UFCVegas59 as The Ultimate Fighter?
Mohammed Usman & Zac Pauga are ready to throw down & find out 🤜🤛 pic.twitter.com/vPiO32Rcun
— UFC (@ufc) August 5, 2022
With three first-round finishes (two wins and a loss), he has fought into the third round just once since entering the organization. Packing a lot of power, Hill has six career wins by knockout, and four total finishes in the first round. Entering with a height and reach advantage, Hill (31) is also seven years younger than his opponent Santos (38). The favorite to get the win at -295, Hill figures to continue his climb on the light heavyweight ladder. Santos has his work cut out for him.
From 2018 to 2019, Santos was on a tear, winning four consecutive fights in a run that included victories over Jan Blachowicz and Kevin Holland. That landed him an opportunity opposite Jon Jones at UFC 239 for the light heavyweight title. Santos lost respectably by split decision, but he has been in a near freefall since then.
After the Jones loss, Santos fell to Glover Teixeira in 2020 and Aleksandar Rackić in 2021 before scoring a much-needed win over Johnny Walker in a UFC Fight Night headliner last October. This March he lost by unanimous decision to Magomed Ankalaev, and now finds himself as a gatekeeper once again to the top 10 of the division. He prevented Walker’s ascension, but Hill is going to be a tough one.
UFC Fight Night: Santos vs Hill Fight Card and Odds
Main Card
- #6 Thiago Santos (+245) vs #10 Jamahal Hill (-295) – Light Heavyweight
- #6 Vicente Luque (-180) vs #13 Geoff Neal (+155) – Welterweight
- Mohammed Usman (–) vs Zac Pauga (–) – Heavyweight
- Brogan Walker (–) vs Juliana Miller (–) – Women’s Flyweight
- #14 Augusto Sakai (+200) vs Serghei Spivac (-240) – Heavyweight
- Ariane Lipski (-175) vs Priscila Cachoeira (+150) – Women’s Flyweight
Preliminary Card
- Sam Alvey (–) vs Michal Oleksiejczuk (–) – Middleweight
- Terrance McKinney (-850) vs Erick Gonzalez (+600) – Lightweight
- Bryan Battle (-260) vs Takashi Sato (+220) – Welterweight
- Jason Witt (–) vs Josh Quinlan (–) – Welterweight
- Cory McKenna (-225) vs Miranda Granger (+190) – Women’s Strawweight
- Mayra Bueno Silva (+105) Stephanie Egger (-125) – Women’s Bantamweight
