Odds: Susurkaev (-625), Santos (+455)
Susurkaev isn’t quite the next Khamzat
Chimaev, but he’s an interesting prospect that gets another fun
test here. After his win on the Contender Series in August of last
year, Susurkaev looked to evoke the current middleweight champion
by taking a fight just four days later, racking up another win in a
fight where he had to overcome some brief moments of adversity.
That’s essentially where “Hunter” is at the moment, as he’s quite
promising but relatively untested. Susurkaev has yet to meet the
opponent that will make him think about whatever’s coming in
return, and to that end it’s nice to see the UFC continue to slow
play him with a minor move up against Santos.
A 2024 Contender Series alum, Brazil’s Santos is a fairly standard
pressure fighter that can put together offense at a decent clip and
seems tough, but doesn’t overwhelm his opponents with a ton of
horsepower. Susurkaev will likely be overconfident enough at some
point during this fight to get himself into trouble, but he’s the
much more potent fighter of the two and has what should be a clear
wrestling advantage in his back pocket as he gets some good work
in. The pick is Susurkaev via second-round stoppage.
Jump To »
Gautier vs. Diaz
Alvarez vs. Amosov
Dawson vs. Rebecki
Miller vs. Gordon
Kopylov vs. Tulio
Sabatini vs. Gomis
Susurkaev vs. Santos
Carpenter vs. Ochoa
