UFC Fight Night: Karol Rosa vs Luana Santos Preview & Prediction
The first women's bantamweight tilt of the card features an all Brazilian clash, with Karol Rosa slated to throw down against Luana Santos.
Karol Rosa vs Luana Santos facts
What time are Karol Rosa and Luana Santos expected to walk out?
Where is UFC Fight Night: Kape vs Horiguchi? Meta Apex, Enterprise, USA
Where can I get tickets for UFC Fight Night: Kape vs Horiguchi? Click here for the latest ticket information for UFC Fight Night 279
What TV channel is UFC Fight Night: Kape vs Horiguchi on? UK – TNT Sports / USA – Paramount
Where can I stream UFC Fight Night: Kape vs Horiguchi? UK – TNT Sports can stream the event online via the TNT Sports website and HBO Max / USA – Paramount+ & UFC Fight Pass
UFC Fight Night: Kape vs Horiguchi main card
Manel Kape vs Kyoji Horiguchi (Flyweight)
Ion Cutelaba vs Navajo Stirling (Light Heavyweight)
Hyder Amil vs Christian Rodriguez (Featherweight)
Melsik Baghdasaryan vs Murtazali Magomedov (Featherweight)
Andre Fili vs Vinicius Oliveira (Featherweight)
UFC Fight Night: Kape vs Horiguchi prelims
Andre Lima vs Kevin Borjas (Flyweight)
Beatriz Mesquita vs Melissa Mullins (Women's Bantamweight)
Allan Nascimento vs Mitch Raposo (Flyweight)
Gaston Bolanos vs Michael Aswell Jr. (Featherweight)
Leon Shahbazyan vs Levan Chokheli (Welterweight)
Karol Rosa vs Luana Santos (Women's Bantamweight)
Shane Collins vs Otari Tanzilovi (Featherweight)
Karol Rosa: Can the Brazilian veteran hold the gate for the old guard once again?
A UFC competitor since 2019, Karol Rosa (19-7) returns looking to defend her spot in the rankings at 135 pounds. The Brazilian veteran is a polished striker who relies on high output and good takedown defense to compensate for her lack of stopping power on the feet, a state of affairs that has carried her to eight UFC victories by decision. She's only ever lost to ranked level opposition during her time in the promotion, dropping results to the likes of Ailin Perez, Norma Dumont, and Irene Aldana to underline her status as a solid gatekeeper to the Top 10. She was last seen earning a unanimous decision over Nora Cornolle last August.
Luana Santos: The Brazilian submission artist looks for her third straight win
Perfect throughout a six fight UFC run outside of a decision loss to Casey O'Neill in 2024, Luana Santos (10-2) aims to make good on her chance to crack the Top 10 come Saturday night. Posting a 5-1 record with two finishes since joining the promotion in 2023, Santos is an accomplished grappler, with half of her professional wins coming by way of submission. While her striking leaves a lot to be desired, at 26, she still looks to have considerable room to improve as a mixed martial artist. She's currently riding a two fight win streak since losing to O'Neill, scoring an Americana submission victory over Tainara Lisboa and earning a decision over Melissa Croden last December.
Karol Rosa vs Luana Santos prediction
In a classic striker vs grappler matchup, Santos looks to represent solid value as a slight underdog here. She’s never been the best striker at 135 pounds but she looked impressive last time out against a big, powerful bantamweight in Melissa Croden, negating the Canadian’s physicality advantage with ease en route to a decision victory.
On the other side of the cage, Rosa is a considerably better kickboxer with much higher output, but she’s got almost non-existent power. As such, Santos isn’t going to have to overly worry about the shots coming back in her direction, allowing her to grapple and hunt takedowns more aggressively without the fear of walking into a fight ending shot. While she’s proven to have solid takedown defense, Rosa also has a tendency to get stuck in bad positions as she attempts to fight off the shot, giving up precious seconds on the clock in the process.
The older fighter in this contest, Rosa is considerably more experienced than her Brazilian compatriot, only dropping results to ranked level opposition during her time under the UFC banner. There’s a good chance that she leans on that experience to pot shot her way to victory, but we’re going with Santos to mix in well-timed takedowns and control time to earn a decision in a slight upset.
Prediction: Luana Santos to win by decision
