Thiago Santos became Glover Teixeira’s fifth consecutive victim after his 3rd-round submission loss last weekend. Santos had some strong moments on the feet, almost knocking Glover out twice. However, the grizzled veteran managed to avoid the finishing blow and completely out-wrestle Santos.

After a lot of activity in terms of ground and pound on the ground by Glover, the fight would eventually be stopped after a rear-naked choke.

The fight actually could have ended by RNC in the second round, but Santos was saved by the bell. However, that save didn’t allow him to come out in the third round and win the fight himself. Santos has now addressed his loss in a lengthy Instagram post.

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Santos was coming off a high-profile fight against Jon Jones, where he lost by a narrow split-decision. This was despite Santos blowing out his knees early in the fight, for which he had to serve over a year on the sidelines.

While his return may have been scuppered by Glover, he still has a lot to prove in this division.

Thiago Santos climbing back up to the title?

Santos could have gotten an instant rematch against Jones if not for his injury. Instead, Jones fought Dominick Reyes to another controversial win before leaving the division for good.

In the meantime, Reyes fought Jan Blachowicz and lost to the Polish star in a fight for the vacated Light Heavyweight belt. The last man to beat Jan was Santos, and he would have become a clear number one contender if he had bested Glover.

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The way things stand right now, it seems like Santos is behind Glover and Israel Adesanya. However, this could be a good time for Santos to re-establish himself in the division.

Clearly suffering from ring-rust; especially his takedown defense, Santos could find his way back to the ring to earn some miles before charting a course to the title.

Santos would need to beat maybe two high-ranked fighters to find himself going toe-to-toe against whomsoever the champion is at that point.

Considering this title is going to be held up in the Glover-Jan-Adesanya triangle of matchups, this would be a fantastic time for Santos to re-tool and come back stronger.