Luana Santos expects Kayla Harrison and Amanda Nunes to retire from the sport after they eventually meet for the UFC bantamweight title in the future, but she\u2019s not afraid that it could mean the end of the entire weight class.<\/p>\n
The UFC shut down the featherweight division after Nunes retired as a two-division queen in 2023, but kept the bantamweight open. When Harrison left PFL and ultimately won the belt, Nunes decided to un-retire to challenge her. Since then, the UFC has opted not to offer top-5 veteran Ketlen Vieira a new contract after her most recent win and passed on signing two-time PFL champion Larissa Pacheco to the division, moves that had people fearing for the future of the division.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, it doesn\u2019t worry me,\u201d Santos told MMA Fighting when asked of the danger of UFC shutting down the entire division. \u201cI\u2019ve seen a lot of people talking about it because of the lack of signings and because Ketlen was released, but I\u2019m not concerned. A lot of people say, \u2018Oh, the division is going to disappear.\u2019 I don\u2019t think that\u2019s going to happen. I think 135 is a quieter division and doesn\u2019t have as many fights, but that\u2019s changing. We\u2019re seeing a lot more fights at 135, and a lot of new people are coming in.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI see it as an opportunity,\u201d she continued. \u201cI have a good relationship with the UFC; they like me, and I have a good connection with the fans. I\u2019m not someone who gets a lot of hate. For some reason, people identify with me and like me. If you look at my Instagram, I have more followers than some girls who have been in the UFC for 10 years. I think people saw something in me that caught their attention. I think the UFC sees that too. I see it as an opportunity. I already have three finishes in the UFC, so if I get one or two more, that puts me even closer to a title shot. People already identify with me. So I see it as a good thing. If nobody\u2019s there, I\u2019m coming [laughs].\u201d<\/p>\n
Santos admits, however, that the promotion is struggling to find marketable contenders to make draw good numbers and attention in the 135-pound class. Santos is approaching 270,000 followers on Instagram going into her upcoming fight with Karol Rosa at UFC Vegas 119, which goes down Saturday at the Meta APEX, and doesn\u2019t see other women with big drawing potential.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur division doesn\u2019t really have a name coming up that makes people stop and say, \u2018Wow, she\u2019s the next big thing\u2019 \u2014 other than Amanda, who wants to come back, and Kayla, who\u2019s in her prime,\u201d Santos said. \u201cThere\u2019s no one we look at and say, \u2018Damn, this girl is coming up, making noise, and she\u2019s marketable.\u2019 There just isn\u2019t. There\u2019s nobody that people are saying, \u2018My God, she has to get the title shot, she\u2019s next.\u2019 Our division is pretty quiet. We don\u2019t talk much. There\u2019s Norma [Dumont], who talks a lot and all that, but she just lost, so I think she\u2019ll have to take a couple of steps back. There isn\u2019t that standout girl right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cKayla herself has already said something along the lines of, \u2018If they don\u2019t open 145 again, I\u2019m retiring.\u2019 I don\u2019t think the UFC is going to reopen the 145-pound division. If 135 already doesn\u2019t have that many women making noise, why would they open another division just to have it be quiet too? Featherweight has never been a division with a lot of activity. You\u2019d see fights there once in a blue moon. So yes, if they fight each other, whether they win or lose, I think both retire. Kayla can\u2019t keep making 135 forever \u2014 I don\u2019t even know how she still does it today, she\u2019s huge. And that opens the door for the people coming up. Whoever is making noise, selling fights, and winning will move ahead of everyone else in line for the title, no doubt about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Argentina\u2019s Ailin Perez is very loud in interviews and social media, bringing a type of provocative behavior that could draw headlines and typically works well for MMA fighters in the modern era. That said, Santos said UFC and fans can\u2019t expect the same from her \u201cbecause it\u2019s just not who I am.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThose things have to come naturally,\u201d Santos said. \u201cPeople try to force themselves to talk trash and create drama, but if it isn\u2019t natural, it comes across as fake, and it won\u2019t be marketable. Anything forced doesn\u2019t work. I\u2019m not going to create a character, and I think that\u2019s one reason people identify with me so much. Insulting people, provoking them, making wild promises, that\u2019s not me. If the UFC sees me as marketable, it\u2019ll be because of who I really am, not because I\u2019m trying to provoke or trash-talk someone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Santos is on a two-fight winning streak going into her June 20 fight, beating Tainara Lisboa and Melissa Croden since moving up from flyweight, and sees the title picture wide open after Harrison vs. Nunes for whoever gets a big victory \u201cbecause we don\u2019t have anyone in the division who really makes noise, talks, and is marketable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Santos moved back to Brazil after spending three years in the United States, a move that helped her sign with the UFC and enter the octagon six times in a span of 28 months. Victorious in five of those bouts, Santos decided to build a team around her in Brazil and live \u201cmuch happier\u201d in S\u00e3o Paulo without having to sacrifice her training.<\/p>\n
Rosa has never been finished in 12 UFC bouts, and Santos is aiming to be the first. Santos still hopes to fight one more time in 2026 after \u201ca career-changing win\u201d over Rosa this weekend, , but won\u2019t overlook her fellow Brazilian.<\/p>\n
\u201cKarol is a very tough fighter,\u201d Santos said. \u201cWe can\u2019t put blinders on and say, \u2018You have everything it takes to beat her, it\u2019s going to be easy.\u2019 She\u2019s extremely experienced. She has 12 UFC fights, which is the same number of professional fights I have in total. That tells you how experienced she is.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Luana Santos expects Kayla Harrison and Amanda Nunes to retire from the sport after they eventually meet for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":749210,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,1347,785,85,787,1396],"class_list":["post-749209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fighting","tag-latest-news","tag-mma","tag-sports","tag-ufc","tag-ufc-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/749209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=749209"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/749209\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/749210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=749209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=749209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=749209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}