Thiago Santos knows his remaining time in mixed martial arts is not long.
But the 39-year-old former UFC light heavyweight title challenger still lives for the rush that comes with facing an opponent who, similar to him, hits like a truck.
And that’s what Santos has in store for his debut with PFL, which kicks off its 2023 season Saturday in Las Vegas, as he takes on last year’s 205-pound champion, Rob Wilkinson.
“I love that,” Santos told The Post this week via Zoom. “This kind of fight makes me so excited; makes me afraid. And it’s important for me to feel adrenaline, to feel afraid, make me train more, train hard, prepare very well.”
Santos (22-11, 16 finishes), during a 10-year tenure with the UFC, racked up a promotional record eight knockouts as a middleweight — plus three more at light heavyweight.
While the Brazilian has lost five of his last six, each was to either a top contender or a current or future champion, including his final fight in the octagon last August when now-champ Jamahal Hill finished him via fourth-round TKO.
Wilkinson (17-2, 16 finishes), 31, is trending the opposite way, having finished all four of his PFL contests in 2022 before even reaching the third round on his way to the $1 million championship prize.
Santos, who signed with PFL barely a month after his UFC contract expired with the loss to Hill, called his Australian opponent’s run to the top “amazing.”
And now it’s his turn to make a run at the first championship victory of his 13-year MMA career, one that figures to require Santos fight four times in a calendar year — twice in the regular season and, if he qualifies, wins in the semifinals and final — for the first time since undergoing knee surgeries to repair torn ligaments suffered during the split decision loss to Jones.
Can Santos’ body hold up the way it used to in 2018, when he won four of five fights?
Even he admits that’s a “good question.”
“I always like to be active and fight as [much as] possible as I can, but a lot of questions about that,” a candid Santos replied. “What I do [is] I [do] not think about [the] next one. I know I have to fight four times [to] win the belt, but I’m not thinking about that so much. I’m not gonna be worried about injury, about anything. I have to win my fight, and then I have to think about the next one.”
Santos concedes that PFL likely is the final stop on his professional MMA journey, but he made no indication of when that end would come.
Like many a mixed martial artist, Santos harbors ambitions of trying his (heavy) hands at boxing, and he noted that PFL is “open for me to do that.”
But that’s not where Santos’ focus lies this week.
Squarely in his sights is Wilkinson, who finishes each of his last five opponents via knockout or TKO.
And don’t forget: That’s what gets Santos blood pumping.
“Even [if] I have experience, I always [am] nervous, feel afraid a little bit, but it’s normal,” Santos explains. “It makes me [feel] alive, makes me very excited … and makes me aggressive to finish him.”
