In all but the blind eyes of Joel Ojeda, Cory Sandhagen beat up a timid Marlon Vega in the main event of UFC Fight Night from San Antonio.
Sandhagen utilized a varied offense to keep Vera on his toes, never able to get into an offensive rhythm. Ojeda’s ludicrous 48-47 scorecard for Vera was overridden by scores of 50-45 and 49-46 for Sandhagen.
The first two rounds had Sandhagen display a variety of strikes and takedowns against a listless Vera. While Vera put on a better effort in the third at the urge of his corner, he was still outclassed and couldn’t secure any ground from Sandhagen.
Rounds 4 and 5 saw a pattern of Vera responding only after Sandhagen touched him up, and not landing anything of merit. There was no doubt that Sandhagen, now 16-4 with the win, would emerge as the winner.
After winning his second fight in a row, Sandhagen isn’t looking to take an easy night out. The Colorado native made it loud and clear he wants Merab Dvalishvili next, and at ringside, Dvalishvili acknowledged the call out.
For Vera, it was an awful performance in every sense of the word. The bout snapped a four-fight win streak, and potentially a big-money rematch with Sean O’Malley over whom he scored an injury-induced TKO win back in 2020.
Holly Holm dominates Yana Santos
Fresh off signing a new long-term deal with the UFC, Holm made it look easy as the 41-year-old former champion dominated Santos. Holm suffocated Santos with her wrestling and didn’t have a single stretch of time in their three-round clash where she wasn’t in complete control.
With four takedowns and over nine minutes of control time, Holm scored an easy decision win to move her to 15-6 and in striking distance for a bantamweight title shot. Santos dropped her second fight in a row, falling to 14-7
UFC Fight Night full card results
Cory Sandhagen def. Marlon Vera via split decision (47-48, 49-46, 50-45)
Holly Holm def. Yana Santos via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-27, 30-27)
Nate Landwehr def. Austin Lingo via submission (rear-naked choke) at 4:11 of Round 2
Maycee Barber def. Andrea Lee via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 30-27)
Albert Duraev def. Chidi Njokuani via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
Daniel Pineda def. Tucker Lutz via submission (guillotine) at 2:50 of Round 2
Lucas Alexander def. Steven Peterson via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Trevin Giles def. Preston Parsons via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
C.J. Vergara def. Daniel Lacerda via TKO (punches) at 4:04 of Round 2
Victor Altamirano def. Vinicius Salvador via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
*Alex Perez vs. Manel Kape was cancelled for undisclosed medical reasons prior to the bout
