Leo Santos unhappy with UFC’s James Krause fight offer: ‘He’s not even in the top 15’

Leonardo Santos wants better competition.

After going more than a year without a fight, the UFC tried to match him up against

, potentially for a bout on the upcoming Utica card. The TUF Brazil 2 champion was none too happy to find out he might be taking on a non-ranked fighter. Especially since he is currently riding a four-fight streak, including a win over top-ranked Kevin Lee.

Santos spoke to Combate about his feelings on the booking, telling the outlet that he tried reaching out to the UFC in order to get better match-ups, but to no avail. The Nova Uniao fighter even went so far as to claim that American fighters don’t seem to have such a hard time getting higher-caliber bouts.

“You see Americans win three in a row and crack the top 10. We win six, seven or eight fights and can’t get past 12 or 13. My name doesn’t even make it to the top 15. If you check my fights, I defeated some tough guys, there were no nobodies. They tell me can I have no wins over high-caliber guys, so give me one so I can try to do that.”

Away from the Octagon since an unanimous decision win over Adriano Martins, in October 2016, Santos says he doesn’t understand why it took him so long to get another fight.

“It’s hard to tell. I challenged Michael Chiesa, but they told me he was hurt. I won and asked for him again. Two weeks later, he announce his next fight. They said he had a fight scheduled, but he didn’t. I asked for a top 10 name, they gave me Adriano Martins. They told me: ‘Win that fight and then we’ll see.’ I did, now they give me James Krause? He’s not even in the top 15. Krause is a tough guy, but he doesn’t (get me to the top 15). Of course there’s plenty of tough non-ranked guys, but they throw us those fights expecting us to lose and shut up.”

Eventually it’s unclear if the bout will go ahead. Despite initial reports that fight had been made, Krause has since revealed that he’s still dealing with a foot injury suffered against Alex White. Maybe that means Santos will end up with an opponent he feels more befits his record after all. Or maybe they’ll just end up competing on a different card a little further down the line.

UFC Fight Night 131: Rivera vs. Moraes takes place in Utica, NY on June 1. The card is expected to be headlined by a bantamweight bout between contenders Jimmie Rivera andMarlon Moraes.