MMA Preview – Joanne Calderwood vs Taila Santos at UFC Fight Night 198
JOANNE CALDERWOOD VS TAILA SANTOS FACTS
When is UFC Fight Night 198? Saturday 20th November, 2021 - 21:00 start (UK)
Where is UFC Fight Night 198? UFC APEX, Enterprise, Nevada (US)
Where can I get tickets for UFC Fight Night 198? Click here for the latest ticket information for UFC events
What channel is UFC Fight Night 198 on? BT Sport 2
Where can I stream UFC Fight Night 198? BT Sport subscribers can stream the fight online via the BT Sport website
For viewers in the United States, the event will be shown live on ESPN+ and you can sign up for access as part of a Disney Bundle here!
JOANNE CALDERWOOD VS TAILA SANTOS LOWDOWN
Joanne Calderwood (15-6) or Joanne Wood as she recently tied the knot makes the walk for her third appearance of the year and is hoping to bounce back from a loss. She lost a split decision to Lauren Murphy in June which came off the back off a brilliant unanimous decision win over veteran Jessica Eye (2021). She is now falling victim to a classic consecutive win/loss record which is almost inevitable at the top of a female division illustrating its competitiveness. Before the win over Eye, she got submitted by Jennifer Maia (2020) which came after a split decision win over Andrea Lee (2019) which has aged well.
Bucking the win/loss trend, Taila Santos (18-1) only has one loss on the record which came on her UFC debut. She somehow lost a split decision to Mara Romero Borella (2019) which is not a good look however, she left the judges with zero doubt in her last three fights. She has earnt three unanimous decisions over Molly McCann (2020), Gillian Robertson (2020) and Rozanne Modafferi (2021).
JOANNE CALDERWOOD VS TAILA SANTOS PREDICTION
Calderwood was originally scheduled to fight Alexa Grasso which would have been a banger, but the Mexican got injured opening the door to Santos. This is arguably a tougher fight for Calderwood as Santos’ grappling has looked superb.
Santos has looked solid everywhere and we touted her as the dark horse of the division a while back. We still think she has the makings of a future title challenger, and this is her toughest test so far.
Calderwood will be desperate to keep this on the feet. However, Santos is not only a good grappler but a dangerous striker too so a stand-up battle with the Muay Thai specialist will be very interesting.
That said, the difference will come in the grappling, and we do not think Calderwood’s 63% takedown defence will be good enough against Santos who has taken down every single one of her opponents so far including decent grapplers Robertson and Modafferi who she took down five times.
Calderwood is very tough and will be dangerous on the feet and in the clinch, but we expect Santos to rack up the control time on the ground to take the fight away from the Scot to bag a decision.
Prediction: Santos via Decision - CLICK HERE FOR PARIMATCH'S WELCOME OFFER (BET £5, GET £30 IN BONUSES!)
