by Darren Moore
A light heavyweight bout between former UFC Light Heavyweight Championship title challenger Thiago “Marreta” Santos (21-9-0) and Johnny Walker (18-5-0) is scheduled to be the main event at UFC Fight Night 193 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday night.
Santos and Walker are ranked 4th and 10th respectively in the UFC’s rankings for the 205-pound weight class.
This UFC event is also known as UFC Vegas 38 and UFC on ESPN+ 51.
View: All UFC Odds
UFC Fight Night: Santos vs. Walker Start Time
- Date: Saturday, October 2
- Main card: 5pm. PT/8pm. ET/12am BST
- Main event (approx): 7 pm PT/10 pm ET/3am. BST
Thiago Santos vs Johnny Walker Betting Odds
The UFC betting odds on the Fight Result with the US sportsbook Bovada make the more experienced Santos the moderate favorite at –175, with Walker on offer at +145 to win the bout.
Walker is the younger man by eight years and also has a considerable height and reach advantage. Santos is unquestionably a very dangerous opponent, but at the available odds, Walker has a definite chance of making further progress up the rankings here.
Light Heavyweight – Main Event
 |
 |
|
|---|---|---|
| Thiago Santos | Name | Johnny Walker |
| 21-9-0 | Record | 18-5-0 |
| 6′ 2″ | Height | 6′ 6″ |
| 206 lbs | Weight | 205 lbs |
| 76″ | Reach | 82″ |
| Orthodox | Stance | Orthodox |
| 4.27 | Sig Strk LPM | 4.41 |
| 53.66 | Sig Strk Acc | 77.64 |
| 0.70 | TD AVG | 0.40 |
| 38.10 | TD ACC | 100.00 |
| 0.09 | Sub Avg | 1.20 |
Thiago Santos Odds
The 37-year-old Brazilian Santos is on a three-fight losing streak, having been beaten by Jon Jones on a split decision in July 2019 (in a fight for the title belt), Glover Teixeira to a 3rd round submission in November 2020 and, in a lackluster fight, Aleksandar Rakic via a unanimous decision in March 2021.
It’s worth remembering that when Santos lost to Jones, he suffered a torn left ACL, PCL, MCL, meniscus, a cracked tibia, and a partially torn right meniscus, and that after undergoing surgery, he took 16 months out of the Octagon.
His last win was back in February 2019, when he beat the current Light Heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz with a 3rd round KO.
Santos desperately needs a win here for his career to halt his losing skid and to put his name back among the contenders for another title shot. Were “Marreta” to go down to another loss here, it’s difficult to see much upside for his future in UFC at the age of 37.
Johnny Walker Odds
The 29-year-old Brazilian Walker, who fights out of Southampton in England, was last in action in September last year when he delivered a 1st round KO to Ryan Spann.
In addition to Spann, Walker has also produced impressive KO victories against Misha Cirkunov and Khalil Rountree Jr. However, were he to beat Santos it would be the biggest win of his career to date.
Before defeating Spann, Walker had two back-to-back losses. He was first knocked out in a big upset loss against Corey Anderson and then went on to lose via a decision to Nikita Krylov.
Walker possesses real knockout power, with four of his five UFC wins coming by KO. He won his first three UFC bouts, all via first round knockout and all earning Performance of the Night honors.
By contrast, although still a formidable knockout performer himself, it seems that the explosiveness in Santos could be on the wane as age starts to catch up with him.
Aspen Ladd vs Macy Chiasson Preview
Also on the card as the co-main event is a women’s bantamweight bout between Aspen Ladd (9-1-0) and Macy Chiasson (7-1-0). The winner of this fight could put herself in line for a future title shot.
The Fight Result odds with Bovada have Ladd as the –220 favorite, while backers of Chiasson can get +175.
Bantamweight – Co-Main Event
 |
 |
|
|---|---|---|
| Aspen Ladd | Name | Macy Chiasson |
| 9-1-0 | Record | 8-1-0 |
| 5′ 6″ | Height | 5′ 11″ |
| 135 lbs | Weight | 136 lbs |
| 66″ | Reach | 72″ |
| Orthodox | Stance | Orthodox |
| 5.22 | Sig Strk LPM | 4.16 |
| 60.62 | Sig Strk Acc | 59.65 |
| 2.45 | TD AVG | 0.98 |
| 75.00 | TD ACC | 21.05 |
| 1.22 | Sub Avg | 0.49 |
Aspen Ladd Odds
The 26-year-old Ladd, from Pioneer, California will be making her long-awaited return from knee surgery, which has seen her unable to compete since a 3rd TKO win over Yana Kunitskaya in December 2019.
Of her nine victories to date, seven of them have come via stoppage. Ladd knows how to finish fights. Her first and only UFC and MMA defeat came amidst controversy when she was beaten by Germaine de Randamie via a 1st round TKO after just 16 seconds. Ladd appealed against the decision for a premature stoppage, but the Athletic Commission voted it 3-2 against the appeal.
Macy Chiasson Odds
The 30-year-old Chiasson, from Dallas, Texas is a former Ultimate Fighter champion. She’s on a two-fight winning streak, with her last bout ending in a unanimous decision win over Marion Reneau in March 2020.
These are two of the brightest prospects in UFC, but at the age of just 26 there looks to be much more to come from Ladd and she looks to be worthy of the favorite tag.
* UFC Vegas 38 odds correct at the time of article publication. All betting odds are subject to changes.
Darren lives & breathes sports betting and is always sniffing out his next value bet. His favourite sports to bet on are the NFL, horse racing and UFC but he will bet on anything if he thinks the odds are favourable.
