Thiago Santos had to deal with some difficulties ahead of his UFC Fight Night 105 clash with Jack Marshman.
Santos landed in Halifax, Canada, earlier this week alongside Santiago Ponzinibbio, who also competes Sunday night at the Scotiabank Centre, and had a pleasant surprise. The Rio de Janeiro native got the chance to see snow for the first time in his life.
"As soon as we got here, it was funny because Santiago and I were thrilled because we never saw snow before,” Santos told MMA Fighting on Wednesday. "We both left the airport to touch the snow, but then I said that we didn't need that much of snow [laughs]. It was snowing a lot here."
And when Santos says there was too much snow, he’s not kidding. Thanks to the snowstorm that hit Halifax, the local airport and roads were closed, and several fighters, coaches and UFC staff couldn't get to the city.
Santos’ coaches Otavio Duarte and Philip Lima had to stay days in New York until the airport was finally open, and the UFC middleweight kept training and cutting weight for the fight with Ponzinibbio’s assist.
"We couldn't even leave the hotel to go to the supermarket to buy food for my diet because it was closed, too. That was an issue,” Santos said. "Santiago and I helped each other out, training and cutting weight, until my coaches got here today. It was a new experience, I’ve never been through something like that before.
"I think the biggest problem was the lack of specific training, the things we usually do on fight week, working out in the morning and techniques at night. That was a problem, but I don't think it will affect me in the fight.”
“Marreta" couldn't buy specific food for his diet on supermarket, so he had to order from the hotel’s restaurant with his broken English.
"I had to order some things here at the hotel, but I don’t speak English very well, so I had to do mimics, adapt,” he laughed. "It’s complicated because you can’t cook with regular oil, you have to use coconut oil, and no salt. You don't prepare the food the way you prepare in a regular restaurant, and it still didn’t come the way it should in our diet. It’s always different, so my weight cut is not the way it should be on fight week.”
According to Santos, he still has 19.8 pounds to cut for the middleweight contest. "I’ll suffer a bit more than usual, but no big deal,” he said. "It’s a little over than usual.”
Speaking of the fight, Santos, who aims to bounce from back-to-back losses to Gegard Mousasi and Eric Spicely, looks to add another knockout victory to his MMA record as a birthday gift to his wife and 13-year-old son.
"He has heavy hands, he’s a boxer, a striker, but this is MMA and he can go for takedowns if he’s having difficulties in the fight.” Santos said of Marshman. "He might bring new weapons. I also heard he was a paratrooper like me, so that’s nice. He’s a warrior, just like me, and I’m expecting a war inside the Octagon."
"I want the knockout, man,” he continued. “The goal in the last minute of the World Cup final is the knockout. I’ll always go for the knockout. If I can’t get it, fine, the victory is what matters the most, but I always want to finish the fight with a knockout."