Thiago Santos will be looking to snap a career-worst three-fight losing streak when he steps into the octagon against fellow light heavyweight Johnny Walker on Saturday night as a -155 favourite on the UFC odds at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
Santos has been idle since suffering his most recent defeat, a three-round loss to Aleksandar Rakic at UFC 259 that leaves him sporting a 21-9 professional MMA record going into Saturday night's fight at UFC Apex.
Santos' current losing streak began with a split-decision loss to Jon Jones in his bid for the UFC light heavyweight crown at UFC 239. The 37-year-old subsequently suffered a third-round submission loss to Glover Teixeira before falling to Rakic this past March.
But despite his recent struggles, Santos remains listed at No. 5 on the UFC light heavyweight rankings - and with good reason. Prior to his current slide, Santos tallied a third-round TKO victory over current champion Jan Blachowicz at UFC Fight Night 145, and finished opponents on seven occasions during an impressive 8-1 run.
Johnny Walker is also looking to make a turnaround as he prepares for Saturday's main event as a +130 underdog at online sports betting sites. The 29-year-old got his first taste of defeat since joining the UFC in 2018 with a stunning TKO loss in November 2019 just 138 seconds into his tilt with Corey Anderson at UFC 244. Walker followed up with a three-round unanimous decision loss to Nikita Krylov at UFC Fight Night 170, but got back into the win column last time out with a first-round KO win over Ryan Spann at UFC Vegas 11.
First-round finishes have become Walker's trademark over his eight-year pro MMA career. The hard-hitting Brazilian has tallied 15 of his 18 career wins inside five minutes, including four opening-round victories in the octagon that have garnered him three Performance of the Night bonuses. However, he has also seen two of his five career defeats come inside five minutes.
Elsewhere on the UFC Fight Night odds for Saturday, middleweight rivals each looking to bounce back from recent defeats clash in Saturday's co-main event as Kevin Holland battles Kyle Daukaus as -170 chalk. Holland is coming off back-to-back five-round unanimous decision losses to Derek Brunson and Marvbin Vettori. A +140 wager for Saturday, Daukus has seen each of his past three fights go the distance, but came out on the losing end in his dates with Phil Hawes and Brendan Allen.
Earlier in the evening, Niko Price takes on fellow welterweight Alex Oliveira as a -185 favourite, while Toronto's Misha Cirkunov clashes with fellow welterweight Krzysztof Jotko as a +120 underdog.
