- Michael Bisping assessed Marlon Vera’s performance against Cory Sandhagen at UFC San Antonio
- “The Count” concluded that “Chito” should’ve fought harder in the early going
UFC commentator Michael Bisping explained why he thinks Marlon Vera suffered a split decision loss to Cory Sandhagen at UFC San Antonio.
Time was of the essence
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Bisping assessed Vera’s performance as he was heading to the changing room inside the AT&T center. According to “The Count,” “Chito” should’ve matched Sandhagen’s aggressiveness early in the fight as the first two rounds clearly hurt him in the judges’ scorecards.
“Marlon Vera took his time just like always you know, he’s a slow starter by nature and that really cost him tonight. Listen, I’m not taking away from Sandhagen… Sandhagen was very very impressive, I mean forced the takedowns at the beginning always, always got a smart game plan. He’s a very sophisticated fighter, sophisticated striker you know, he did fantastic work putting it on Chito right from the beginning,” Bisping began.
“The first two rounds, Sandhagen got really far ahead. I think he was something like 120 strikes to like 30 or something like that and that’s what caused him the fight… Third round, he [Vera] came alive, certainly started to put more pressure on, started landing some shots. I love Chito, he’s a good friend of mine but he’s actually started to fight, didn’t fight in rounds one and two round. [Round] four, did better, Round five, did better but it was kind of a little, it was too little too late,” he continued.
On to the next one
Sandhagen evidently came in prepared for Vera and also for his post-fight callout. In his Octagon interview, “Sandman” said he wants to take on No. 1 bantamweight contender Merab Dvalishvili next to make himself 100% ready for the title.
On the other hand, Vera was hoping to finally get a shot at the bantamweight title by putting on an impressive performance against Sandhagen. Unfortunately, he wound up ending his four-fight winning streak.
Sandhagen is also expected to surpass Vera in the official UFC bantamweight rankings.
