Cory Sandhagen is knocking on the door of another shot at UFC gold, but standing in his path is a fighter that hasn’t exactly impressed the former interim bantamweight title challenger.
In the main event of UFC Fight Night 219 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Sandhagen takes on Marlon Vera in a key bantamweight bout scheduled for five rounds. The event takes place Feb. 18 and airs on ESPN+.
Even though Vera is on a streak of four wins that includes stoppages of former UFC champions Frankie Edgar and Dominick Cruz, Sandhagen doesn’t believe his upcoming opponent’s approach to victory is sustainable.
“Not really, honestly,” Sandhagen told MMA Junkie when asked if he was impressed by his winning streak. “I think the way that he’s been winning is not a reliable way to win. When I think about some of the best fighters in the world or what I foresee myself trying to become, which is the best fighter in the world, it doesn’t involve a lot of unreliable winning. It involves strategically beating them in every moment and having just very reliable ways to win.
Whether that be like takedowns, whether that be just being a better kickboxer, whether that be submissions – whatever that is, I don’t think that it can be lose most of the fight and then catch the person in one of the later rounds. … I don’t think it’s going to work against me, and that’s kind of the way that I feel about his style.”
Sandhagen points to late surges from Vera against Rob Font and Cruz that led the Ecuador-born fighter to victory. Over the course of five scheduled rounds in their upcoming bout, Sandhagen intends to use as much time is necessary to show that he is the better fighter that is capable of a clean victory with an effective strategy as he hunts for his second-straight victory after a stoppage of Song Yadong in September.
Dealing with the small cage at the UFC Apex is a welcome challenge for Sandhagen as well. The bout against Vera will be his fifth fight at the venue in the smaller enclosure, which naturally encourages more action due to the lack of space to operate. It’s something that Sandhagen admits was a tough adjustment to deal with when he first fought in the smaller cage against current bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling at UFC 250.
“I appreciate the challenge,” Sandhagen said. “I like the challenge of having to fight more. When there’s a smaller cage, there isn’t a lot of room to move around, which I’m OK with now, which was something that was challenging in the beginning, but now I’ve enjoyed having that challenge. I think that just being in a smaller cage and me having to fight a little bit more close and give them more opportunities has just made me a lot better of a fighter.”
Cory Sandhagen: Marlon Vera’s style of winning fights is not reliable