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Why Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos was probably UFC Fight Night 119’s biggest winner
Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos left Ibirapuera Gymnasium on Saturday with a few reasons to celebrate: He got a win, a “Fight of the Night” bonus and the news that he’s going to be a father.
The interesting bit, though: dos Santos (18-5 MMA, 4-1 UFC) didn’t get the news from the mother of his child; instead, he got it from his team. In fact, by the time he stood in front of reporters to discuss his unanimous-decision win over welterweight Max Griffin (13-4 MMA, 1-2 UFC) at UFC Fight Night 119 in Brazil, he hadn’t even had time to talk to her yet.
How long had they known, you wonder?
“I would like to know that too,” dos Santos said with a laugh after the FS2-televised preliminary-card bout. “But from what I heard, it’s been a week. And my coach, Felipe Silva, also found out last weekend he’s going to be a dad. So it’s double the happiness.”
That’s some solid secret-keeping right there. In any case, it didn’t seem like the 170-pounder was at all mad at the circumstances in which he got the news. Instead, he mostly focused on the joy that came with it.
“It increased my heart rate even more,” dos Santos said. “It was already at 200, and went to 400. Being a father was a dream of mine and, thank God, today got the news from my coaches.
“There wasn’t a post-fight interview; they wanted to do that surprise then. I really didn’t know. And I’m very happy. Very happy.” (via Instagram)
The mom – Tatiane, whom he’s been with for seven years – is the “love of his life,” dos Santos said. And, as it turns out, the developments of the night may very well end up leading to yet another life-changing occasion for both of them.
At the time, dos Santos didn’t know that his slugfest with Griffin would end up earning him his second straight $50,000 fight-night bonus. But asked what he would do should he get it, dos Santos replied with a smile.
“I think we’re going to have to get married now,” dos Santos said. “There’s no escaping it anymore. So this bonus would certainly help a lot with the wedding.”
For more on UFC Fight Night 119, check out the UFC Events section of the site.
The Blue Corner is MMAjunkie‘s official blog and is edited by Mike Bohn.
Filed under: Blue Corner, Featured Videos, News, UFC
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