Thiago Santos is targeting another title shot after squeaking out an unsatisfactory unanimous decision win over Johnny Walker at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
'Marreta' was made to work at times by his fellow Brazilian but those brief flurries were few and far between and in the end it was a fairly comfortable night for the American Top Team fighter.
The win snapped a three-fight losing skid for Santos. Walker meanwhile has alternated wins and losses in his last three fights.
“I went through hard times since when I did my surgery – it’s hard to recover," Santos said after his fight with Walker.
“I stopped [fighting] for a year and a half. I fought against Glover [Teixeira], lost. I took another fight against [Aleksandar] Rakic, lost.
"But no one run me over. It’s a tough fight. I fought against them against tough guys.
"Every single fight I feel better. It’s important to me. I go down and go up.
"I was 100 percent going to fight better against Johnny Walker and this happened.
“I think I deserve something more. I want the champion. I think I deserve top 5, one more fight and I think if I win the fight I can go to the title shot again.
"I think I deserve that. I had a fight against the No. 10. I want a top 5 who can bring me to the title shot again.”
Santos (22-9) said he is eager to get in one more fight before the end of the year and is eyeing a high-profile fight against the highly-rated Jiri Prochazka to compete for the number one contender spot at the top of the light heavyweight division.
He added: “Jiri Prochazka, if he don’t want to wait for [title] fight – I’m here.
“I can fight against him. He’s a good fighter, all respect to him, but I watch his fights.
"He thinks his chin is strong, but it’s because he didn’t fight against ‘The Hammer.’
"If he want to try to test his chin, I’m here. I’m here.”
Walker refused to get too disheartened about the manner of his defeat, insisting: "The result don’t come but I’m very happy, [five] rounds, against top 5 [opponent], and I get so much experience and I learn and feel it.
“So let’s go, keep working, thank you Dana White and the UFC for the opportunity. God bless you all."
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