Preview: UFC Fight Night 198 ‘Vieira vs. Tate’

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Women’s Flyweights

#10 WFLW | Taila Santos (18-1, 3-1 UFC) vs. #5 WFLW | Joanne Wood (15-6, 7-6 UFC)

ODDS: Santos (-350), Wood (+290)

In a division badly in need of fresh challengers for champion Valentina Shevchenko, Santos is putting herself near the front of the pack when it comes to new blood. Santos came up the regional ranks by beating an exceptionally poor level of competition but showed some of the benefits of that approach, using the time to build a fundamentally solid game backed by her impressive level of physicality and strength. As expected, the Brazilian found some difficulty at first with the step up to the UFC. Mara Romero Borella managed to take an ugly split decision from Santos in her UFC debut, mostly just by being too physical for her to completely overwhelm. After an injury layoff, Santos has since gone about putting together three one-sided wins, albeit in fights where she has had a clear physical advantage. She controlled and smothered Molly McCann and Gillian Robertson without much issue and went back to showing her impressive striking against Roxanne Modafferi. With Santos having proven herself as a force, it is now time to see if she can make a run towards title contention, which starts against the recently married Wood.

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The former Joanne Calderwood is the most decorated veteran left to not get a shot at Shevchenko, though the Scotswoman has eternally seemed on the verge of that championship opportunity. She was even booked against Shevchenko in June 2020—until a combination of the coronavirus pandemic and a Shevchenko injury scrapped that idea. Wood, wanting to stay active, wound up losing her subsequent fight against Jennifer Maia in an unfortunate echo of a 2015 loss to Maryna Moroz that may have cost her a title shot during her days at strawweight. At any rate, Wood has since re-affirmed that she is a potential contender—with a win over Jessica Eye and nip-tuck loss to recent Shevchenko victim Lauren Murphy—mostly on the strength of a muay Thai game that has become increasingly powerful in recent years. Wood is still not an elite athlete like Santos, but bulking up at flyweight has allowed her to hold her own strength-wise, especially in comparison to when she seemed like a reedy fighter at 115 pounds. This is a good next test for Santos and a winnable fight, but it does seem that Wood now has enough physicality to her game to stop the Brazilian’s takedowns; and she should be able to cause some damage if Santos tries to make this an ugly battle in the clinch. The speed and power of Santos’ strikes is a worry, but with Wood being durable, she has proven herself enough to get the benefit of the doubt. This is a great fight, but the pick is Wood via decision.

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