Dana White praised Cory Sandhagen after he defeated Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera in the UFC San Antonio main event.
Sandhagen took another step toward a bantamweight title shot by dominating Vera on Saturday night. The biggest surprise of the night came when Joel Ojeda shockingly scored the bout for ‘Chito,’ leading to a split decision. During the UFC San Antonio post-event press conference, White reacted to the main event by saying:
“I was literally coming out of the bathroom, and I was like what the f*ck? Were you surprised? I think everyone was surprised, could’ve been 5-0, could’ve been 4-0. Split? Wow, that’s pretty scary. He [Sandhagen] looked incredible. He looked incredible, shut him down, incredible footwork, lateral movement, takedowns, he had it all.”
‘Chito’ has a reputation for starting fights slow, but he never got going at UFC San Antonio. As a result, the Ecuadorian-born fighter suffered a setback on his journey to a bantamweight championship fight. Meanwhile, Sandhagen extended his momentum from a TKO stoppage against Song Yadong in September 2022.
#UFCSanAntonio Official Scorecard: Cory Sandhagen (@CorySandhagen) vs Marlon Vera 👇
All Tonight’s Scorecards ➡️: https://t.co/2LvSldQ8gr pic.twitter.com/NhrfCwjfZM
— UFC News (@UFCNews) March 26, 2023
Watch Dana White’s UFC San Antonio post-event press conference below:
Dana White says Cory Sandhagen ‘put himself in a really good position’ in the UFC bantamweight division
Cory Sandhagen is one of the elite title contenders in a stacked bantamweight division. Now that he beat a top-five opponent, the 30-year-old could be one win away from a title shot. During the same press conference, Dana White was asked about the potential of Sandhagen to become a world champion. He responded by saying:
“He looked really good tonight, and obviously, he beat the number three guy in the world. That wasn’t a split decision. Whoever scored that fight a split decision, I don’t even know. I’m not gonna go there, but yeah, he absolutely dominated tonight and put himself in a really good position.”
Shortly after having his hand raised, Sandhagen called out Merab Dvalishvili, who was sitting cageside. Dvalishvili later accepted the offer, making the matchup a possibility for later this year. ‘The Machine’ last fought on March 11, defeating Petr Yan by unanimous decision.
Dvalishvili earned the number one ranking in the UFC bantamweight division by taking out Yan. With that said, he’s unwilling to fight his close friend and training partner Aljamain Sterling, which means a matchup against Sandhagen makes sense until Sterling loses or vacates the 135-pound title.
Cory Sandhagen has a message for Merab Dvalishvili 🗣 #UFCSanAntonio pic.twitter.com/AUuZ60Lnbz
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) March 26, 2023
