Yana Santos shows frustration with Chelsea Chandler's "unfair" five-pound weight miss after UFC Vegas 95 win: "It feels so disrespectful"
Yana Santos broke the silence on her opponents repeatedly missing weight. Santos fought Stockton's Chelsea Chandler at UFC Vegas 95 on August 10. The fight was scheduled to take place at bantamweight. However, Chandler weighed five pounds over the non-title fight limit and the bout proceeded as catchweight.
Santos displayed superior skills on the fight night and walked away with a unanimous decision win (29-28 X 2, 30-27) to snap her three-fight skid.
Unfortunately, three of Santos' five most recent opponents have failed to make weight. The Russian-Brazilian fighter shared her thoughts on the repeated instances in the backstage interview:
"I felt it was so unfair because for me, I'm a big girl... I'm not small. It was two months and I had a very strong diet. I never miss weight and always do my job to be there. She came in fat, missing five pounds... This means she didn't even try. Not a single person from her team said sorry even after the fight! This is so disrespectful. There is no punishment for this. [Three of my last opponents] missed weight and there is no point deduction even. To have a small percentage from a small salary is nothing compared to the damage [the smaller fighter absorbs]."
Check out Yana Santos' comments below (0:35):
Speaking at the post-fight press conference, Santos doubled down on her stance and called for stricter action:
"There is no punishment. You can have an advantage and win a fight. You can then get a higher salary... I am a big girl. I am keeping the body fat percentage low [to make weight] and putting my health at risk. She can just come in five pounds overweight. If you don't put your body through all this stress, you have a big advantage."
Check out Yana Santos' comments below:
Apart from Chelsea Chandler, Irene Aldana and Ketlen Vieira missed weight in their fights against Santos. While Vieira lost by unanimous decision, Aldana defeated Santos by TKO.