{"id":282689,"date":"2023-04-02T03:49:00","date_gmt":"2023-04-02T03:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=282689"},"modified":"2023-04-02T16:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-04-02T16:00:00","slug":"aussie-brutes-clinical-start-to-world-title-defence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=282689","title":{"rendered":"Aussie brute's clinical start to world title defence"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australia's Rob Wilkinson has started the new PFL<\/a> season with a clinical performance, defeating Thiago Santos by unanimous decision in Las Vegas on Sunday (AEST).\u00a0<\/p>\n

Wilkinson started the season with a different approach, opting not to go punch-for-punch with Santos.<\/p>\n

Instead, last year's $1.5 million champion spent the lion's share of the contest grappling, making seven takedowns while his opponent made none.<\/p>\n

Watch all the action from the 2023 Professional Fighters League, featuring Australian champion Rob Wilkinson.<\/strong><\/em> Streaming ad free, live and on demand on Stan Sport<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Rob<\/p>\n

That ultimately paid dividends for Wilkinson who kept Santos out of the contest as he fought to find a way out of the Australian's stranglehold.<\/p>\n

The second round offered Santos a chance to turn the tide.<\/p>\n

He got on Wilkinson's back for all of 10 seconds only for the momentum to swing back.<\/p>\n

\ufeffLIVE UPDATES:<\/strong> Latest news and results from Australian Grand Prix<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Sheens takes dig at own team as Tigers woes worsen\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> AFL world divided over umpire's harsh call\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Australia's<\/p>\n

The pair did exchange blows in the third round, which left Wilkinson with a welt above his left eye while Santos began bleeding from the head.<\/p>\n

Wilkinson landed 57 of his 91 strikes while Santos went 43 from 75.<\/p>\n

\ufeffLeg strikes were a point of difference for Wilkinson too, who made 24 from 30 while Santos was four from 11.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/PFLMMA\/status\/1642361899928133632?s=20<\/a><\/p>\n

Santos threatened to steal the win with a flurry of punches and kicks in the dying moments.<\/p>\n

But Wilkinson's work in the first and second rounds ultimately made the difference and he was awarded the win, 29-28.<\/p>\n

With the win, Wilkinson earned three points in the light heavyweight division.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Marthin Hamlet and Joshua Silveira sit atop the PFL standings after their bonus point wins over Mohammad Fakherddine and Sam Kei respectively, both by submission.<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>!\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Australia's Rob Wilkinson has started the new PFL season with a clinical performance, defeating Thiago Santos by unanimous decision in Las Vegas on Sunday (AEST).\u00a0 […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282689"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=282689"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282689\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":282691,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282689\/revisions\/282691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=282689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=282689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=282689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}