UFC 130: Jorge Santiago Set for His Return to the UFC

Since his departure from the Ultimate Fighting Championship in 2006, Santiago has been one of the top middleweight fighters outside of the mega-promotion. Now he looks to begin his UFC career yet again at UFC 130.

In his last stint in the UFC, Jorge Santiago was cut straight after two losses to Chris Leben at UFC Fight Night 6 and Alan Belcher at UFC Fight Night 7, both by knockout.

Since leaving the UFC, Santiago has fought for promotions such as BodogFight, Strikeforce, UAFC and, most recently, Sengoku.

Returning to the UFC, Santiago is coming off two straight title defense victories in Sengoku as their middleweight champion.

Jorge Santiago now faces Brian Stann at UFC 130 instead of Wanderlei Silva, who didn't want to play the "bad guy" in a fight against Stann. Stann is a former United States Marine.

“Everyone can see MMA in Japan getting weaker and weaker every year," said Santiago in an interview with Heavy.com. "I never had problems with Sengoku; they always treated me right, they always paid me on time, but I was fighting maybe twice a year, and like I’d always be telling my friends, I’ve been ranked in the Top 10 and there is no challenge over there."

Santiago is currently ranked eighth among middleweights, according to Sherdog.com.

Of course, numerous MMA fans don't think he is deserving of his ranking due to the fact that he fights outside the UFC and was 1-2 in his time in the Octagon.

“There’s a lot of people doubting me because I’m not here, I’m not fighting the guys everybody sees on every month on TV, because the Japanese fighters don’t get the same exposure here in the United States," said the 30-year-old Santiago.

Now, things are different for Santiago, who thinks he could beat current UFC middleweight champion and one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world, Anderson Silva.

“Of course, nobody is unbeatable man, we know that,” Santiago told Heavy.com “With the right game plan, I think one advantage I have to my game is that I know how to mix it up. I’m not just a striker; I do jiu jitsu, wrestling. If somebody wants to come and just bang, it’s not something that I’m going to do. I’m going to chose what I want to do. We saw the fight against Chael Sonnen; everybody has their weaknesses, their bad day. I think I have a big chance.”

Getting past Stann at UFC 130 is the first test for Santiago, and if he can get past him, he's on the fast route to possibly earning a title shot against Silva by the end of 2011 or 2012.