UFC bantamweight Yana Kunitskaya will not be returning to the Octagon this year. The former UFC featherweight title challenger and Invicta FC bantamweight champion is not injured or suspended, but expecting a child with her fiancé, former UFC light heavyweight title challenger Thiago Santos. The couple also raise Kunitskaya’s son from a previous relationship together, and have been dating since at least August 2019.
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Former UFC Title Challengers Yana Kunitskaya and Thiago Santos Announce Pregnancy
“Foxy” Yana Kunitskaya most recently competed at UFC 264 in July, losing by first-round TKO to Irene Aldana, breaking her nose to boot. In the comments section of the above Instagram post, fans speculated that the Russian may have been pregnant during the fight. Her response to one of those comments was “my body crazy”, potentially confirming those suspicions but not going as far as to say that she knew of the pregnancy going into the fight. She debuted in the UFC as a headliner, fighting Cris Cyborg for the UFC featherweight title at UFC 222 in March 2018. After that fight, Yana Kunitskaya dropped down to bantamweight, where she now holds a 4-2 record.
“Marreta” Santos, meanwhile, has lost three straight fights, most recently to Aleksandar Rakic at UFC 259 in March. After tearing his ACL in a split decision loss to Jon Jones for the UFC light heavyweight title back in July 2019, the Brazilian returned to action this past November in a submission loss to Glover Teixeira.
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He will try to get back on track at in October, where he is expected to headline UFC Vegas 38 against fellow Brazilian knockout artist Johnny Walker. At 37 years old, a fourth straight loss for Santos would not be a good sign for his career.
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