One Santos is a grappler. The other Santos, not so much. And that was the difference in a clash of top-10 women's bantamweights at UFC Fight Night on Saturday in Las Vegas.
Luana Santos, a judo black belt from Brazil who is No. 7 in ESPN's 135-pound rankings, turned five takedowns into 7½ minutes of control time to earn her fourth straight victory, a unanimous decision over fifth-ranked Yana Santos.
The bout was on the undercard of a meeting of unranked lightweights Renato Moicano and Tom Nolan, a bout that Nolan won by third-round TKO. The result was significantly swayed one round earlier by a questionable decision by referee Dan Miragliotta to stand up the fighters while Moicano was in a dominant position on the canvas.
Yana Santos (17-9, 1 NC), a 36-year-old Russian who began her fighting career as Yana Kunitskaya before marrying UFC light heavyweight Thiago Santos, also entered Saturday's bout on a three-fight winning streak. It started well for her, as she used her strength and positional advantages to keep the fight standing for all of the first round, fending off nine takedown attempts.
But Luana Santos (12-2) stuck with it, landing two takedowns in the second round and three in the third. She spent more than half of each of those rounds in control on the canvas. Though she inflicted no damage, the control was enough for all three judges to score the bout 29-28 in her favor.
"I knew the challenge that I was facing in this fight," Luana Santos said through a Portuguese interpreter. "I knew that my best weapon was taking her down like that, especially with my forte, which is judo."
The victory boosts Luana Santos' standing in a UFC women's bantamweight division that has been stagnant. Kayla Harrison won the championship in June 2025 and has not fought since, while recovering from surgery for herniated discs in her neck. Harrison will finally defend her title in two weeks at UFC 334, facing former two-division champ Amanda Nunes, who is returning after a nearly 3½-year retirement, for a megafight that will get the division back in motion.
"I want to fight girls that are on top of me in the rankings," Luana Santos said. "There's going to be some Kayla and Amanda soon. Let's see what happens."