The UFC has added another fight to the UFC 333 card in Abu Dhabi on October 24. Bolaji Oki moves to the featherweight division to take on Daniel Santos in the Etihad Arena. The fight between the two fan favorites will take place on the preliminary card.
Multiple sources have confirmed the fight to Heavy.com. Neither Santos nor Oki holds a spot in the current UFC Media or UFC Meta rankings.
Powerful Striker
Bolaji Oki is a 30-year-old fighter out of Belgium. He made big waves in the regional scene in the Netherlands and Belgium. He was undefeated in the LFL promotion and won the title in the Atomic Fighting Championship organization in 2022. After defending the belt a year later, Oki got a call from the UFC to fight on the Contender Series, trying to earn a UFC contract. Oki came in as a slight underdog against Dylan Salvador but knocked the French fighter out in the first round. The win got Oki a contract with the UFC. He made his promotional debut in 2024 against late replacement Timmy Cuamba. Oki won after three rounds via split decision.
Seven months after his debut, he fought his second fight in the UFC against Chris Duncan. The Belgian fighter started aggressively and had Duncan on wobbly legs. He decided to take Duncan down. A bad decision in hindsight. Duncan locked in a guillotine choke and finished Oki. Last year, Oki bounced back with a win over Michael Aswell Jr. and had, just like the Duncan fight, a great start against Mason Jones. Unfortunately for Oki, Jones was able to take over halfway through the fight and finished him by TKO. Earlier this year, Oki fought his most recent opponent, Manoel Sousa. In a firefight, Oki lost via knockout in the third round. Oki decided to drop to featherweight. He needs to win against Daniel Santos to not lose three in a row.
Never In A Boring Fight
But it will be a tough task to break that negative streak against Santos. Santos is a 31-year-old fighter out of Brazil and is, like Oki, a very entertaining fighter to watch. The Brazilian fighter started his professional MMA career in 2013 and built up a 9-1 record in his first six years as a professional. Santos fought for promotions like ACA and Brave CF and was a highly touted prospect when he signed with the UFC in 2021. The Brazilian didn’t fight for almost two and a half years before he made his UFC debut due to injuries and COVID-19 cancellations. Santos lost his debut in the UFC against the always very durable Julio Arce.
It wasn’t the start Santos wanted, but in the loss he also showed his qualities as a fighter. In his sophomore performance half a year later, Santos earned his first UFC win by finishing John Castañeda. Due to medical issues and injuries, Santos only fought once between 2023 and 2024. He beat Johnny Muñoz Jr. via unanimous decision. The Brazilian fighter finally put some momentum together last year when he fought twice. After beating JeongYeong Lee, he finished JooSang Yoo via knockout in the second round. It looked like Santos was going to make a run for the top 15 this year but got brutally stopped by DooHo Choi earlier this year. Santos now returns to take on Bolaji Oki.
UFC 333 – Abu Dhabi (October 24th)
- Alexander Volkanovski vs. Movsar Evloev
- Petr Yan vs. Merab Dvalishvili
- Lone’er Kavanagh vs. Ramazan Temirov
- Alexander Volkov vs. Rizvan Kuniev
- Aaron Pico vs. Losene Keita
- Dominick Reyes vs. Azamat Murzakanov
- Abus Magomedov vs. Cam Rowston
- Nikita Krylov vs. Abdul Rakhman Yakhyaev
- Grant Dawson vs. Nurullo Aliev
- Asaf Chopurov vs. Colby Thicknesse
- Abubakar Vagaev vs. Jacob Malkoun
- Daniel Santos vs. Bolaji Oki
Featherweight Banger Added to UFC 333 in Abu Dhabi