UFC 130 – Brian Stann says his key to defeat Jorge Santiago lies in attacking him everywhere

Former WEC light heavyweight champion, Brian Stann has been giving further food for thought on his upcoming fight with former Sengoku middleweight champion, Jorge Santiago at next weekends UFC 130 card in Las Vegas, Nevada, explaining his key to winning this one will come in attacking the Brazilian everywhere.
Speaking via UFC.com, Stann said:

“I’m very impressed with Jorge Santiago as a fighter. He’s a champion. He’s won multiple belts since he’s left the UFC the first time, and he poses two really big challenges. Obviously he’s a world class grappler, so he’s very good on the mat. But more importantly, he has a way about him that just finds ways to win fights, whether it’s on the ground, in the clinch, by decision, standing – he has really shown he possesses a talent to find ways to win fights, even ones where he was clearly behind, like the last fight with (Kazuo) Misaki.”

“The key for me is attacking everywhere. I’m no longer a one-dimensional fighter. I can fight everywhere and there’s nowhere in this fight that he can take it where he can overwhelm me. I feel like I’m a better wrestler than he is, I think I’m a better striker. The area where he is better is Jiu-Jitsu, but this isn’t a grappling tournament. We’re not starting off slapping hands and starting on our knees. I can knock guys out from every single position and that’s what I’m going to try to do this fight.”

“I think the differences in the rules from Sengoku to UFC will affect Jorge. The rules we have don’t let guys take you down and just lay on top of you. You have to advance your position. You have to work for submissions, and try to finish the fight. So the fact that they stand you up a little bit quicker here, I think that’s a factor and I’m sure Jorge has trained for that. The biggest thing is the cage, however. It’s a lot easier to hold someone down on the mat in a ring than it is with a cage. That cage offers a huge variable for guys that want to get back on their feet. It gets very difficult to hold anybody down once they get their back to the cage.”

Stann, a former U.S. Marine, has certainly made waves at 185 pounds after dropping down, stopping Mike Massenzio in the third round with a triangle choke before knocking out the always tough, Chris Leben in the very first round back in January. Stay tuned to MMABay for more build-up to this one as we get it.