While Santiago’s striking and submissions have become the stuff of nightmares, Khalidov has only recently shown flashes of that explosiveness, and his weak base makes it easy to disrupt his flow whether he is upright or horizontal. More importantly, Khalidov’s defense has a long way to go, and while it has not cost him yet, his stance looks like a neon sign begging for a right high kick. Khalidov’s stands his best chance by ground-and-pounding the American Top Team standout. Such hopes, however, have turned out to be emptier than most 401k accounts against this version of Santiago.
The X-Factor: Anytime two versatile and aggressive fighters butt heads, the variables are enough to give Will Hunting a seizure. Khalidov could easily knock out Santiago, considering the American Top team product has a trio of knockout losses to his name already. If Santiago foregoes the grappling and goes toe-to-toe, he remains the favorite, but the window of opportunity will be wide open for Khalidov.
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The Bottom Line: If a fight on this card simply cannot be missed, this is it. The action will be relentless until someone ends up getting his limbs or brain cells saved by the referee. There are a handful of middleweights who can hang with Santiago in that kind of fight, and Khalidov is not quite there yet. A wild kickboxing match will end with a dazed Khalidov trying to escape to the mats and falling into the not-so-loving embrace of a guillotine choke.