Thiago Santos still had one fight left on his UFC deal when he negotiated his release from the company. Now he has bold plans for the next few years of his career in the PFL.
Speaking on the latest episode of MMA Fighting’s Trocação Franca, “Marreta” called his decision to leave the UFC a “combination of many factors,” which including better pay and to a chance to “breathe new air.”
“It was also the right moment, at this stage of my career, to try something different,” Santos said. “I won’t be a hypocrite, of course that I want the $1 million [prize]. Of course I want money to make my nest egg. I don’t want to wait until it’s too late [in my career], like almost retiring, to fight one last fight and try a lot of money. No, I really want to fight. I know I still can do great things in MMA, I still have a few more years of fighting. The moment had to be now. New opportunities, better purse. Everything made me opt for the change.”
Santos declined to disclose how much he’s set to make in the PFL, but said “the purse is financially better for me than [what I had in the] UFC.”
The American Top Team light heavyweight could pocket an extra $1 million as well if he wins the 2023 playoffs, and said “I haven’t done the math, but I’m sure that would be more than I made all these years in the UFC.” Santos, who once challenged Jon Jones for the UFC title, fought 24 times inside the octagon between 2013 and 2022.
But Santos also said he has “nothing to complain” about regarding his nine-year journey as a UFC fighter and feels “grateful” for every opportunity he had in the company. Santos left the promotion with a record of 14-10 record that included wins over Jan Blachowicz, Johnny Walker, Jimi Manuwa, Kevin Holland, Anthony Smith, and Jack Hermansson.
“I still had one more fight [in my contract] but my manager Alex [Davis] was already in conversations with the PFL for a while,” said the Brazilian, who lost to Magomed Ankalaev and Jamahal Hill in his final octagon appearances in 2022. “They had reached out asking how many fights I had left and when my contract would end, and they came with an offer. My manager asked me if he could advance the talks, I talked to my wife and we decided to continue [the discussion with PFL]. He spoke with the UFC and the UFC was very kind and correct with us, we dealt everything in a friendly manner and got the release.”
Santos envisions himself competing professionally for “no more” than three more years and expects to make his PFL debut in 2023. He said he was offered a spot in the final PFL card of the year on Nov. 25, but had to turn it down after undergoing injury to fix a broken left hand.
The Brazilian joins three other American Top Team light heavyweights in the 2023 season — Omari Akhmedov, Antonio Carlos Junior, and Josh Silveira — and doesn’t mind facing them in the cage. The door is also open for a future move to heavyweight, he said.
“We’re all very mature, we’re friends and train together for a long time,” said Santos, who picks Akhmedov to beat Rob Wilkinson to win the 2022 PFL season. “Josh just fought Omari, so, if it has to happen, it will. We’ll fight and friendship will continue the same.”
I think it was a good move. I think he’s not been the same since JJ destroyed his knees with those fuckstick stomps to the knee but he will do better than he would now against ufc fighters.
He should retire and sleep happy knowing he became the most famous Thiago Santos. I used to associate that name with the heavyweight who fought Eric Prindle twice where both fights ended via them kicking each other in the nuts.
And that, boys and girls, is how you become a rich manager lol
People call Bellator and One the graveyard of ufc fighters but PFL takes the cake with how many fighters they signed on massive losing streaks
He is 1-5 in his last six and at 38 like he said, he knows he does not have much time left. He has been fighting the highest ranked fighters in the world and knows the UFC would release him after a couple more loses anyway. Look at JDS.
UFC does not all that often keep old losing fighters around and pay them huge money for their years of service. They know they already showed the world the best of Thiago Santos and are happy to let Bellator and PFL pay to have the declining fighter.
Their ratings suck no matter what but at least Bellator is building their own young fighters now like McKee, Pico, Borics, Nemkov etc… and not going after every Kongo, Nelson, Shamrock etc… that comes their way.
Supposedly Santos made 350k for the Jones fight. No idea what sort of up front money or bonuses he had as well.
Its reported he made 120k to headline vs Hill in his most recent fight plus 22k in official sponsorship money and 50k for FOTN so 190k total to headline after a decade with the promotion.
Before fighting Jones in 2019 he was able to fight 5x in 2018… after that Jones fight he managed only 1 or 2 fights a year.
Especially the new Disney run Ufc. They don’t fuck around and it’s always about the money and not the fans or who they support.
Well they know that for every fighter that turns 38, another turns 28 if the sport is growing enough and that is where they want to invest. Thiago was once that guy and now the ship has sailed.
Not going out of their way to retain the Ryan Baders and Thiago Santos of the sport into their early 40’s is part of how their keep fighter payouts down at 20%.
They certainly don’t want to be in the business of giving 45 year old Kongo 250k to press Oli Thompson against the cage for fifteen minutes.
Prob is it only pays if you win it all.
A milli anyway!