The main event of Saturday's UFC Vegas 59 saw Jamahal Hill knockout Thiago Santos half way through the fourth round of the scheduled five rounds. We saw Hill put in some situations that we hadn't seen him have to work through in his past fights and while it wasn't always smooth sailing, he did come out a winner. This also capped off a night that saw every single fight finished inside the distance on a card that not very many fans were high on, especially after a couple of fights fell off late in the week. What it lacked in excitement on paper, it made up for in the outcomes. Today, we're here to talk about the main event and where both men could look when they make their returns to the cage.
As always, we start with the winner and that was, of course, Jamahal Hill. Overall, this wasn't the typical Jamahal Hill performance where he just comes out and puts it on someone, but he still looked pretty solid, while giving us some insight into areas of his game that we weren't as sure about. The most noticeable thing, in my opinion, that happened to Hill is that Santos was able to force him into a slow paced fight for a lot of the night. Hill typically likes to push a pace and Santos was forcing him into a bit more of a methodical fight than I think Hill would have liked. Even then, I thought Hill fought that style of fight somewhat well. Normally when one fighter is able to force the fight to happen at their pace, their opponent struggles to adapt, but Hill was handling it just fine. Even at the slower pace, Hill was still having advantages in all the areas that he was expected to. He was the better boxer, but the kicks of Santos were giving him problems at times. Had Santos been both willing and able to throw them more often, I think things could have gotten really interesting, but that just isn't who Santos is anymore. Hill also appeared to just be a tad faster with his hands, which became more and more noticeable as the fight progressed. We knew his cardio was pretty good as well and that is really what ended up winning him the fight. He just outlasted Santos and after Santos began to slow, he couldn't take the shots anymore and eventually went down and got finished. The first thing that we learned, or I guess more confirmed, is that Jamahal Hill has a pretty decent chin on him. While Santos isn't the guy he used to be, he still has legitimate power in his hands and Jamahal Hill was able to take those shots really without too much of a problem. Hill was the guy who was willing to trade in the pocket and I think that says a lot about his confidence in his durability. Santos doesn't have the deadly power that he had a few years ago, but he is still a fairly powerful guy and Hill was able to eat clean shots. Until proven otherwise, I think it is safe to assume that it is going to take some serious damage to put Hill down or out. The other thing we learned is that Hill at least has some base in his grappling. He was able to stop a lot of the takedown attempts from Santos, which is ultimately a good thing. The problem was that after he stopped the initial takedown, he ended up getting stuck on the fence a bit. Santos eventually did land some takedowns, but didn't get any control out of them as Hill was able to almost immediately work his way back up. While a lot of what we saw from Hill were positive signs, it isn't like Thiago Santos is known for his ability to wrestle. It was good to see that Hill knew what to do in a lot of spots, but he is going to have to become a lot more natural and cleaner in those positions if he wants to get through the tier of fighter that he is entering into.
Due to mostly circumstances out of his control, Jamahal Hill is in a bit of a weird spot when he is ready to start looking for his next fight. The division is set up in such a way that it seems to have a very defined top 4, with Jamahal Hill being the 5th wheel. Jiri Prochazka is calling to defend his title against former champion Glover Teixeira and regardless of his logic, I think this is the correct decision for the UFC. Making that rematch is the fight that I think everyone wants to see. That leaves Jan Blachowicz and Magomed Ankalaev to fight for the number one contender spot. With both Aleksandar Rakic and Anthony Smith out for the foreseeable future with injuries, that leaves Hill in no man's land. The Volkan Oezdemir fight would have made a little sense, but the UFC quickly booked him against Nikita Krylov for some reason. Dominick Reyes is a complete unknown still and even when he does return, throwing him in there after all this time away against Jamahal Hill would be a tough draw. The next highest ranked guy avaiable is Paul Craig, who Hill has already lost to, but both of those guys are trending in opposite directions right now. With Hill coming off of the biggest win of his career and Craig coming off of a bit of an ugly looking loss, I don't think there is any benefit to Hill taking that fight. I think the best move that Hill could make is just to wait and stay ready to see if someone falls out of one of those big fights. If Glover pulls out or he isn't ready and they slide one of the others (probably would be Jan) into the title fight, he could take that spot in the number one contender fight. Jan also had that weird cut near his eye after his last fight, so if he isn't ready to go, Hill could step in to fight Ankalaev. I think that is really the only move for him right now as I don't think any of the other possibilities really do anything for him. Reyes would give him a nice name on his resume, but I would be pretty surprised to see the UFC do that to Reyes right now.
While Thiago Santos didn't come away with the victory, I think there is at least some reason for optimism coming out of this fight. Santos is still only a few years removed from really intense knee injuries and maybe he is just finally getting his footing back inside the cage for the first time since his return. He looked good early in his first fight back against Glover Teixeira and was landing big shots, but he gassed out very quickly and got finished. Since then, he really just hasn't look very good at all and wasn't even looking like himself a lot of the time. He did get finished in this fight, but this was really the first time that it looked like the old Thiago Santos was still in there to some degree. Santos was more aggressive in throwing his kicks than he has been in his last few fights and while I would want to see him throw even more, that is still a positive sign. Santos was more willing to engage and was trading with Hill at times. Whether that was the right or best strategy or not is a different conversation, but the fact that he was willing to do it is a positive takeaway for me just because he had been so low output over his last few fights. He even was willing to wrestle offensively in this fight, which I really didn't think he would do. Obviously, gassing out and being finished isn't the ideal outcome, but the fact that he even slightly resembled the old version of himself is a good sign. If Santos was just slow to regain his footing after the injuries, maybe he still has some solid fights left in him as he continues to recover, even though he is getting up there in age at the same time. I don't suspect that we'll see Santos ever really in the title picture again, but Santos may have showed that he isn't completely done putting on somewhat fun and competitive fights either. That is the hope at least.
Finding a fight for Santos is a bit of a delicate situation. You don't want to give him another killer because the UFC does need to sort of pinpoint exactly where he is, but at the same time, if you drop him too far down, he may just be too much for someone. Given his current run, I would have to assume Santos is getting someone coming off of a loss. As things currently stand, fights with Paul Craig or Dominick Reyes seem to make the most sense to me. Craig is coming off of a loss to Volkan Oezdemir in a fight that he didn't look particularly great in. I don't think there is really and obvious fight for either one of them, so matching them up together would provide a solid opportunity for the both of them. They're right next to each other in the rankings and it is probably the most high profile matchup that both could get. Craig also didn't fight that long ago, so their turn around times could align, which only helps those fights get put together. Reyes is coming off of a long layoff and after suffering a couple of really brutal losses in a row, he will likely be eased back into things. I think Santos could make some sense for him as Santos, even though he looked better, is clearly on the decline. This would provide an opportunity for Reyes to take a slight step back in competition from where he was at, but still fight someone with a name that could get him right back into the mix with a win. I think Craig fight is more likely in the end because I think they may opt to have Reyes almost completely build himself up from scratch. Even if that isn't the plan, it really isn't clear when Reyes wants to return, so there would potentially be some hurdles to making that fight.
That is it from me on this fight. Let me know what you guys think. What do you take away from this fight? Who do you want to see both men fight next? Leave any and all thoughts in the comments. Thanks for reading and have a good one.
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