Cory Sandhagen understands why the UFC gave Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera the next bantamweight title shot instead of him.
On March 9, Sean O’Malley will defend his bantamweight throne for the first time in the UFC 299 main event. There are added stakes for O’Malley’s title defense, as he is scheduled to face Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera, who handed ‘Sugar’ his lone UFC loss in August 2020.
There’s no doubt that O’Malley vs. Vera 2 is an entertaining matchup that people wanted. With that said, some of the MMA community questioned why Sandhagen didn’t receive the next 135-pound title after establishing a three-fight win streak against Song Yadong, Vera, and Rob Font.
During an interview on the JAXXON PODCAST, Sandhagen had this to say when asked why he thinks the UFC gave ‘Chito’ the title shot instead of him:
“The whole thing where you’re only as good as your last fight, I think is a very true thing, especially with how quick the UFC and just life in general moves. I think your last one has to be big and it has to cause excitement and it has to do all of that.”
Sandhagen continued by referencing his unanimous decision win against Font in August 2023. ‘Sandman’ suffered a severe elbow injury and wasn’t able to perform to the best of his abilities, making the fight disappointing for fans:
“Because of the circumstances that I feel were a little bit out of my control, getting hurt is something I can’t really control. The fight [against Rob Font] wasn’t good. It didn’t build up a lot of hype. I get that…I think that if you fight exciting and you finish guys and you go out and fight your a*s off, I think thats what [the UFC] cares about the most.”
Cory Sandhagen believes Sean O’Malley could struggle against Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera
Sean O’Malley has disputed his loss against Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera because of an injury he suffered during their fight. Since then, O’Malley has been mostly dominant on his way to becoming the UFC bantamweight king.
During the previously mentioned podcast appearance, Cory Sandhagen provided his breakdown for O’Malley vs. Vera 2 and suggested the reigning champion could struggle:
“Chito doesn’t attack the same way that typical guys do. Chito likes staying very stationary, when he backs up, he’s like a Kung Fu guy moving backwards, so really hard to hit good. O’Malley doesn’t really close distance very good. He’s not like a one-one-two moving forward guy. He’s not that guy.”
Sandhagen continued:
“I think the Chito-O’Malley fight is going to be tough for Sean way more than what people are anticipating. I think that what Chito does really good is makes reads and f*cking capitalizes and hits people quick and hits them hard. I think that he’s potentially going to be able to do that with O’Malley. I also don’t know how durable O’Malley is. That fight is going to be way closer than I think other ones.”
It’s unclear what’s next for Cory Sandhagen. He was initially scheduled to fight the undefeated Umar Nurmagomedov before the Russian pulled out, leading to Rob Font stepping in.
Therefore, Sandhagen could rebook the Nurmagomedov matchup, challenge another top contender, or potentially wait and fight the winner of the UFC 299 main event.
Watch Cory Sandhagen’s entire appearance on the JAXXON PODCAST below:
