On Saturday night former Sengoku champion Jorge Santiago steps in on short notice to take a fight against the highly rated Icelandic prospect Gunnar Nelson in London at UFC on Fuel 7. This fight features two fighters on opposite ends of their careers. Nelson Is being heralded as a future star, whereas Santiago has been labelled “past it” by a number of MMA fans. This piece will break down both fighters, as well as where the fight will likely be won and lost.
Jorge Santiago
Following a mediocre beginning to his MMA career, including a unsuccessful stint in the UFC in 2006, Jorge Santiago completely reinvented himself as a fighter, and in 2007 he finally began to live up to his potential. He went 4-0 in 2007 — including a Strikeforce middleweight tournament win and a victory over former UFC standout Jeremy Horn — and began a run over the next two years which saw him win the Sengoku middleweight tournament and their middleweight championship. It was this run that marked Jorge’s most successful spell thus far.
Skillswise, Jorge is usually known for his vicious KO, power but his bread and butter is his slick BJJ game; Santiago got his black belt in December of 2003 from Ricardo Liborio, who is the head coach at American Top Team, and one of the best BJJ coaches on the planet. However, over the last number of years, Santiago has suffered a bad case of the “Jorge Gurgels,” and instead of taking the fight to the ground where he has a distinct advantage over most of his adversaries, he elects to stand and trade with known strikers. This has been his downfall throughout his career and has cost him big time in big fights. For example, Chris Leben almost decapitated him back at UFN 6, Brian Stann knocked him out in style at UFC 130, and even the much smaller Manny Gamburyan knocked him out early in his career.
The keys for victory for Santiago are to keep his distance on the feet and throw more reserved strikes than he usually does before trying to put Gunnar on his back to try win rounds.
Gunnar Nelson
Gunnar Nelson made his debut in September to much fanfare, and since his dominant performance against experienced veteran DaMarques Johnson, he has developed a loyal cult following. His career thus far can be split into two categories: his traditional martial arts background and his MMA career.
Gunnar was one of Europe’s top Junior karatekas, but after taking up grappling and MMA at his local club, Mjölnir, he decided to give up Karate. At the age of 16, Gunnar attended a private lesson with one of Europe’s premier grapplers, John Kavanagh of Straight Blast Gym in Dublin. A bond was formed between both mentor and student, and under the tutelage of Kavanagh, Gunnar quickly ascended through the ranks of BJJ. His most notable wins were his 2009 Pan American black belt winning performance, and defeat of Jeff Monson.
Then Gunnar made inroads into mixed martial arts, competing first in Denmark before taking up residency as the star of John Ferguson’s Cage Contender promotion in Ireland. The young phenom also fought for BAMMA, defeating the highly-regarded British fighter Eugene Fadiora.
Skillswise, Gunnar is the complete package. His striking is underrated and his grappling is notorious. His only untested attribute is his wrestling, though he has been known to utilise great trips from the clinch, and Jorge Santiago isn’t really known for his transitional wrestling skills.
The Verdict
I see this fight playing out mainly on the feet, with Jorge throwing wildly, while Gunnar uses his slick standup to neutralise his opponent’s early onslaught before landing crisply and cleanly throughout the fight. Although Gunnar obviously has the ability to finish Santiago on the ground, I don’t believe the fight will make it that far. Look for Nelson to showcase his underrated striking before landing a knockout blow in the early portions of the fight.
UFC on FUEL TV 7: Barao vs. McDonald is due to take place on February 16, 2013 at Wembley Arena in London, UK.
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