5 Things You Might Not Know About Taila Santos

Uncertainty and intrigue greets Taila Santos’ return to the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s remade 125-pound weight class.

Santos will compete for the first time in more than a year when she tackles Erin Blanchfield in a UFC Fight Night 225 women’s flyweight showcase on Saturday at Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang, Singapore. She enters the Octagon having won four of her past five bouts. However, Santos last appeared at UFC 275, where she wound up on the wrong side of a split decision against then-champion Valentina Shevchenko on June 12, 2022. Shevchenko has since been dethroned by Alexa Grasso.

As Santos makes final preparations for her forthcoming battle with the fast-rising Blanchfield, here are five things you might not know about her:

1. She leans on proven training grounds.

Santos operates out of the Astra Fight Team camp in Balneario Camboriu, Brazil, where she sharpens her skills under longtime coach Marcelo Brigadeiro. The gym has helped produce a number of UFC-caliber fighters, from Alberto Emiliano Pereira, Glaico Franca and Josiane Nunes to Alex da Silva Coelho, Sarah Frota and Darren Till.

2. A championship pedigree bolsters her resume.

The 5-foot-6 muay thai stylist struck gold in Aspera Fighting Championship when she cut down Laisa Combra with a punch to the body to claim the promotion’s vacant women’s bantamweight crown in August 2017. Santos used the performance as a springboard to Season 2 of Dana White’s Contender Series Brazil and ultimately the UFC.

3. The minor leagues offered little in terms of true challenges.

Santos ran over her competition on the Brazilian regional scene, as she started her career with 14 consecutive victories. However, the strength of schedule left a lot to be desired. Those 14 opponents have combined for a 40-65-1 record and eight of them—Combra, Bruna Rosso, Gisele Pereira, Wellen Taynara Sobrinho, Ana Paula da Silva, Juliana Martins, Daniela Cristina Patricia and Gabriela Bueno—have yet to record a single win.

4. In an alternate universe, she might still be unbeaten.

The 30-year-old Jaragua do Sul, Brazil, has suffered only two defeats in her 21-fight career, both of them via split scorecards. In addition to her aforementioned setback against Shevchenko, Santos lost a split verdict to Mara Romero Borella at UFC Fight Night 144 on Feb. 2, 2019.

5. She carries quick-strike capabilities.

Santos has 12 first-round finishes to her credit, including three of the sub-minute variety. She wiped out Geisyele Nascimento with a head kick in 30 seconds at a University of Champions event on July 5, 2014, put away the aforementioned Patricia with elbows in 26 seconds at an Aspera Fighting Championship show on March 29, 2015 and disposed of Martins with a keylock in 48 seconds under the Aspera Fighting Championship banner less than a week later on April 4, 2015.