Santos vs Tuivasa

Who won Santos vs Tuivasa?

Junior dos Santos beat Tai Tuivasa by knockout in the 2nd round during the main event of UFC Fight Night 142, on Saturday 1st December 2018 at Adelaide Entertainment Center in Adelaide.

The fight was scheduled to take place over 5 rounds in the Heavyweight division, which meant the weight limit was 265 pounds (18.9 stone or 120.2 KG).

Santos vs Tuivasa stats

Junior dos Santos stepped into the octagon with a record of 19 wins, 5 losses and 0 draws, 13 of those wins coming by the way of knock out and 1 by submission.

Tai Tuivasa made his way to the cage with an unblemished record of 9 wins, 0 losses, and 0 draws, 8 of those wins coming by knock out.

Junior dos Santos' UFC record stood at 15-8-0, while Tai Tuivasa's came in at 8-7-0.

The stats suggested Tuivasa had a large advantage in power over Santos, boasting a 89% knock out percentage over Santos' 68%.

If the fight went to the ground, their records suggested Santos had a slight advantage over Tuivasa, with a 5% submission rate over Tuivasa's 0%.

Junior dos Santos was the older man by 9 years, at 40 years old.

Santos had a height advantage of 2 inches over Tuivasa. That also extended to a 2-inch reach advantage.

Santos was the more experienced professional fighter, having had 15 more fights, and made his debut in 2006, 5 years and 11 months earlier than Tuivasa, whose first professional fight was in 2012. He had fought 33 more professional rounds, 65 to Tuivasa's 32.

Santos vs Tuivasa form

Santos had beaten 3 of his last 5 opponents, stopping 2 of them, going to the judges once.

In his last fight leading up to this contest, he had lost to Francis NGannou at UFC on ESPN 3 on 29th June 2019 by knockout in the 1st round at Target Center, Minneapolis, United States.

Previous to that, he had won against Derrick Lewis at UFC on ESPN+ 4 on 9th March 2019 by knockout in the 2nd round at INTRUST Bank Arena, Wichita.

Going into that contest, he had beaten Tai Tuivasa at UFC Fight Night 142 on 1st December 2018 by knockout in the 2nd round at Adelaide Entertainment Center, Adelaide, South Australia.

Before that, he had defeated Blagoy Ivanov at UFC Fight Night 133 on 14th July 2018 by unanimous decision in their 5 round contest at CenturyLink Arena, Boise, United States.

He had been beaten by Stipe Miocic at UFC 211 on 13th May 2017 by knockout in the 1st round in their UFC Heavyweight championship fight at American Airlines Center, Dallas.

Tai Tuivasa had stopped 2 of his last 5 opponents.

In his last fight before this contest, he was victorious against Greg Hardy at UFC 264 on 10th July 2021 by knockout in the 1st round at T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, United States.

Previous to that, he had won against Harry Hunsucker at UFC Vegas 22 on 20th March 2021 by knockout in the 1st round at UFC APEX, Las Vegas.

Going into that contest, he had been defeated by Sergey Spivac at UFC 243 on 5th October 2019 by submission in the 2nd round at Marvel Stadium, Melbourne, Australia.

Before that, he had lost to Blagoy Ivanov at UFC 238 on 8th June 2019 by unanimous decision in their 3 round contest at United Center, Chicago, United States.

He had been beaten by Junior dos Santos at UFC Fight Night 142 on 1st December 2018 by knockout in the 2nd round at Adelaide Entertainment Center, Adelaide, South Australia.

Activity check

In terms of activity leading into the fight, Tai Tuivasa had been fighting more than Junior dos Santos.

Going to this contest, Junior dos Santos had last fought 5 years and 25 days ago, while Tai Tuivasa's last outing had been 3 years and 14 days ago.

Santos' last 5 fights had come over a period of 7 years, 2 months and 11 days, meaning he had been fighting on average every 1 year, 5 months and 9 days. In those fights, he fought a total of 11 rounds, meaning that they had lasted 2.2 rounds on average.

Tuivasa's last 5 fights had come over a period of 5 years, 7 months and 23 days, meaning he had been fighting on average every 1 year, 1 month and 16 days. In those fights, he fought a total of 9 rounds, meaning that they had lasted 1.8 rounds on average.

What were the odds on Santos vs Tuivasa?

Sorry, we couldn’t find any historical odds for Santos vs Tuivasa.