Two top-ten UFC women's Bantamweight meet in a Featherweight bout in the preliminary card of UFC on ESPN 48. Former Invicta FC Bantamweight Champion and UFC Women's Featherweight Championship challenger Yana Santos is on a two-fight losing skid, with each loss coming to either side of pregnancy. At the same time, Karol Rosa has somewhat lost her way in the promotion after starting with an impressive four-fight winning run. On the first day of July, UFC on ESPN 48 takes place at the Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada.
MMA: UFC Women's Featherweight
Location: UFC Apex, Las Vegas, Nevada
Where to watch: ESPN/ESPN+
Date: 2.07.2023. 01.00
Yana Santos (Kunitskaya)
Originally billed to fight American Macy Chiasson, Russian Featherweight Yana Santos, who has already lost this year, will try to get back in the win column following two consecutive losses. The Chiasson fight was to hold at Bantamweight, but after the American pulled out, Santos elected to compete at Featherweight as she regularly shifts between the two classes. In 2018, she lost the UFC Featherweight championship to Cris Cyborg in her UFC debut. Following a 2021 loss to Irene Aldana, Santos announced that she and her husband, fellow UFC fighter Thiago Santos, were expecting a baby leading to speculations that she was pregnant when she fought Aldana. Her first match post-childbirth was a unanimous decision loss to Holy Holm in March 2023.
Tale of the Tape
- Age: 33
- Height: 5' 8"
- Reach: 68.5"
- Record: 14-7-1
Karol Rosa
The 28-year-old trained in Brazilian jiu-jitsu at 13 before transitioning to mixed martial arts in her late teens. Competing at Bantamweight and Featherweight, Rosa compiled an eye-catching record fighting for various regional Brazilian promotions before debuting in the UFC. Her record in her last three fights in the UFC stands at 1-2, but that stat belies her talent. The Brazilian fighter won her first four fights in the promotion between her August 2019 debut and October 2021. Interestingly all her seven fights in the UFC have gone the distance with her full record at 7-2.
Tale of the Tape
- Age: 33
- Height: 5' 7"
- Reach: 67"
- Record: 16-5
Betting Odds
Karol Rosa is the favorite at 1.56 odds on Coinplay. Santos is priced to win at 2.42, also on Coinplay. Taking note that all Rosa's fights in the UFC have been decided by the judges, over 2.5 rounds is priced at 1.31 odds on Bet365 with the under at 3.30. 1XBET prices a Yes for round three to start at 1.25 and the No at 3.75 odds.