Mairon Santos
Age: 24
Record: 14-1
Nickname: A Lenda
Division: Featherweight
Opponent: Kaan Ofli (11-2-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC)
Path to final: Split decision over Edwin Cooper Jr., unanimous decision over Guillermo Torres
On getting to the UFC
“It feels right, but at the same time it’s weird because it’s new. But I think I’m doing pretty good. It seems like everything’s going so fast, but I’m enjoying every moment – like taking pictures, signing posters. I think yesterday when I was signing posters, I was like, ‘Oh my God. I’m here. I’m in the UFC.’ But everything since ‘TUF,’ I’m kind of getting used to some things, but some things are new to me. But everything has been great.”
On his TUF experience
“My first weight cut was pretty hard. I went through a lot of bad things, and between my first fight and my second fight, I couldn’t train properly because I was injured, and that wasn’t playing in my favor to help me to cut weight again 13 days after. So I had like nine days training to cut, I don’t know – 30 pounds. They didn’t show that.”
On opponent Kaan Ofli
“I think he’ll try to grab me all the time, like all my opponents, because they never want to strike with me. I’m just training what I trained for for all my fights.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 62.
