The fight heated up in the second, Santos starting to throw and land, but after some heat between the two, it was back to pecking and poking at range from both. With under two minutes left, Santos landed two thudding body kicks, and that might have been enough for him to take the round.
Santos held the edge again in the third, but the expected high-impact action from the two knockout artists hadn’t kicked in yet and it didn’t pick up in the fourth, either, though Walker got a little more aggressive, perhaps tying things up on the scorecards heading into the final round.
Walker pressed forward in the fifth but got sloppy with a little over three minutes left, taking a hard left hand to the head. Walker shook it off, but he needed to even the score, and he wasn’t able to before the final five minutes were up.
Official result – Thiago Santos def. Johnny Walker via unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 48-47)| Official Scorecards