Luana Santos will become a top-10 fighter soon.
In the prelims of UFC Vegas 119 on Saturday, the 11th-ranked Brazilian bantamweight defeated eighth-ranked compatriot Karol Rosa by unanimous decision. She leaned on takedowns in all rounds and timely striking combinations to sweep the judges’ scorecards
With her third straight win since moving up from flyweight last year secured, where does Santos go from here? More importantly, does she have the potential to contend for the title?
To understand where Santos currently is in her career and may be in the future, it helps to understand her origins.
Santos began her career explosively, finishing two of her first three fights in the Brazilian regional promotion Standout Fighting Tournament (SFT) – both by submission. That got her noticed by the scouts at the Legacy Fighting Alliance (LFA), which booked her against future Bellator and PFL veteran Jena Bishop. She lost that fight, but won her next two to secure a UFC contract.
To begin her UFC tenure, Santos drew former The Ultimate Fighter winner Juliana Miller. It could not have gone any better, as she finished the fight in the fisrt round. That was followed by a surprising decision win against then-bantamweight Stephanie Egger, but a bout with Hashimoto’s disease hampered her weight cut.
Santos managed to get that condition under control for her next fight – a first-round submission win over Mariya Agapova back at flyweight. She then stepped in on short notice against Casey O’Neill in Australia, but lost by decision.
That made returning ten pounds north much easier to commit to for Santos. Compared to 125, 135 was much shallower, giving her a “shortcut” to the title, as she put it before submitting Tainara Lisboa in her proper divisional debut in 2025.
Two more wins over Melissa Croden and Rosa later, Santos is expected to become a top-10 bantamweight, as mentioned at the start of this article. The impressive thing about that is that she is only 26 years of age – very young for her division. If she wants to elevate herself further, certain opponents make sense.
For instance, Macy Chiasson has been fighting a who’s who of names since winning The Ultimate Fighter in 2018. Many times she has found herself on the cusp of contention, only for an inopportune defeat to set her back. Beating a veteran like her would only strengthen Santos’ ambitions, while a defeat would not set her back by much given her youth.
Meanwhile, Yana Kunitskaya has not been seen since defeating Chiasson in October last year. She was supposed to face Norma Dumont in April, but had to pull out. Like Chiasson, she is another veteran an win over whom could help Santos go further up the echelon.
Finally, Irene Aldana is another former title challenger who has not fought in a while. During her last fight, a loss to Norma Dumont, she suffered multiple facial injuries that have kept her silent for nearly two years now. Should she still choose to fight again, Santos would be an ideal “gatekeeper vs. prospect” opponent for her.
Whomever she fights next, Santos has the youth to last in her division. If she can tap more into the killer instinct that has led to finishes in some of her fights, then the UFC may soon have itself a marketable contender, champion even with the right luck.
As it turns out, however, Santos is not the only fast-rising prospect in her division currently.
Also on Saturday, Bia Mesquita overcame an early flurry from Melissa Mullins to secure a first-round armbar. After the fight, she called out Ailin Perez:
“This is no place to shake your ass. I’m going to kick your ass, girl.”
Add to that Michelle Montague and Jacqueline Cavalcanti (even if the latter lost her last fight), and women’s 135 still has some intrigue left…
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