Thiago Santos vs. Aleksandar Rakic – Preview & Matchup Analysis

UFC 259: Blachowicz vs. Adesanya is scheduled to take place on Saturday, March 6, 2021, in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. In one of the matchups on the fight card, Thiago “Marreta” Santos will take on Aleksandar Rakic in the Light Heavyweight Bout. You can view the full UFC 259 card.

In this post, we will break down Thiago Santos vs. Aleksandar Rakic matchup. Let’s take look at the fighter’s ages, their height, records, reach, fight stats and more below ⤵

The 40-year-old, Thiago Santos is coming in with a 21-8-0 record. Santos will be fighting for the first time since a loss via submission against Glover Teixeira at UFC Fight Night: Santos vs. Teixeira in November.

Rakic, meanwhile, is coming off a unanimous decision win against Anthony Smith on November 7, 2020 at UFC Fight Night: Smith vs. Rakic and holds a 13-2-0 record.

Thiago Santos has an orthodox fighting stance with a 76″ reach. The 32-year-old, Aleksandar Rakic is an orthodox fighter with a 78″ reach. An orthodox fighter stands with their left side forward and jabs with their left hand, the southpaw fighter is the opposite, southpaw stands with their right side forward and jabs with their right hand. In most cases, orthodox fighters are right-handed, if you are left-handed, then you fight southpaw.

Thiago Santos:
→ Santos’s striking accuracy is 48%.
→ Santos lands 4.36 significant strikes per minute.
→ Santos’s takedown accuracy is 40%.
→ Santos’s takedown average is 0.77 per 15 minutes.
→ Santos’s takedown defense is 64%.

Santos comes in with 48% striking accuracy, typically landing about 4.36 significant strikes every minute. On the other side, Rakic fires at 54% accuracy, landing about 4.66 significant strikes per minute. Thiago Santos also has a 40% takedown accuracy and on average gets around 0.77 takedowns every 15 minutes, compared to Rakic’s 0.93 takedowns and 89% takedown accuracy.

Aleksandar Rakic:
→ Rakic’s striking accuracy is 54%.
→ Rakic lands 4.66 significant strikes per minute.
→ Rakic’s takedown accuracy is 28%.
→ Rakic’s takedown average is 0.93 per 15 minutes.
→ Rakic’s takedown defense is 89%.

Aleksandar spent on average 10:49 minutes in the Octagon and Thiago has an average fight time of 7:49 minutes.

This looks like an entertaining matchup, at least on paper. UFC 259 is live in , who do you think will win, Thiago or Aleksandar? Sound off in the comments.

You can view the scheduled UFC 259 fight card, upcoming UFC schedule 2020, and latest MMA news.