Preview: UFC 288 Prelims

Bantamweights

Daniel Santos (11-2, 1-1 UFC) vs. Johnny Munoz Jr. (12-2, 2-2 UFC)

ODDS: Santos (-190), Munoz Jr. (+160)

It is nice to see Santos back in action since the Brazilian is a bit under the radar as one of the UFC’s most exciting newcomers in the last year-plus. “Willycat” has a fairly straight-ahead approach built around marching down his opponents and hunting for the knockout, but he is good at what he does and seems absolutely unshakeable in his pursuit of a finish. He forced Julio Arce to fight three tough rounds in his UFC debut, then came back from the brink of defeat to finish John Castaneda in an absolute barnburner in October. The Arce fight showed that Santos can be outmaneuvered by someone willing and able to stick to a particular plan for 15 minutes, but that still figures to be a high bar for a lot of the UFC’s bantamweight division. Santos takes on Munoz, who has understandably had to learn on the job during roughly three years on the UFC roster. “Kid Kvenbo” did not face the highest level of competition prior to getting the late-notice call in 2020, and he found most of his regional success with a grappling game that did not figure to transfer cleanly to the highest levels. That dynamic became particularly clear in his UFC debut against Nathan Maness—a strange fight that saw Munoz control a vast majority of the fight but still lose a decision thanks to his anemic striking output. To his credit, Munoz has built out some solid basics on the feet to round out his game, so while he has been able to find some clean wins against the lower levels of the UFC roster, he is still at the point where he is fighting a losing battle against athletes with knockout power. Unfortunately, Santos checks both of those boxes while also looking to be a solid grappler himself, so this seems like a tough draw for the Californian. The pick is Santos via second-round knockout.

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Santos vs. Munoz Jr.