The UFC women’s bantamweight division continues to hope that
someone breaks out of the pack as two ranked fighters square off in
this prelim. Chiasson came to the UFC as a featherweight back in
2018 but moved to bantamweight in short order and looked like she
could be a terrifying force. With a massively long frame, Chiasson
made a habit of swarming and overwhelming her opponents, either
with some vicious striking or a sneaky grappling game. However, as
Chiasson rose to a certain level, it became apparent that her frame
came at a price. Her height made it difficult to develop the level
of core strength needed to hang physically with some opposition, a
particular problem given how much she prefers to impose herself in
close quarters. It has been a rocky last few years for Chiasson at
times, thanks to some weight-cutting issues and her running against
that physical upside, but she has done well to get stronger and add
some willingness to strike from range, even if she does keep
hitting a clear wall when it comes to getting into the title
picture. After a grinding loss to Ketlen
Vieira, Chiasson looks to rebound against another divisional
stalwart. Santos also came to the UFC as a featherweight and got
run over by Cristiane
“Cris Cyborg” Justino in her UFC debut, then settled in as the
gatekeeper to what essentially amounts as the Top 5 of the UFC’s
bantamweight division. Her striking can be awkward at times, but
she does a solid enough job of pumping out volume and backing that
up with a decent clinch game. As a decent but not outstanding
athlete, it makes for an approach that can outwork undercooked or
inconsistent opponents but makes little hay against stronger or
more violent fighters. Chiasson seems to fit into that latter
category, even if much of this bout figures to be an ugly grind.
The pick is Chiasson via decision.
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