Cory Sandhagen edged Marlon Vera at UFC San Antonio via a split decision. The split decision was baffling to most who watched the full fight. So it was to UFC boss Dana White. White’s jaw dropped in astonishment to see one judge scoring in favor of Marlon Vera, making it a split decision.
Sandhagen absolutely dominated the octagon. He hardly gave any space to Vera. Two of the judges acknowledged Sandhagen’s scintillating performance by scoring 50-45 and 49-46 in his favor. Then came the perplexing score where judge Joel Odeja marked down the sheet with 48-47 points in favor of Vera.
Dana White could not believe the results of the main event of UFC San Antonio
A split decision is something that seemed inconceivable to Dana White when the match was over. He was so sure of the result that he went to the bathroom without even checking the results, only to find a perplexing scoreline.
White claimed that the match could even be scored at 5-0; if someone was really harsh then it could be scored as 4-1 in favor of Sandhagen. He just could not wrap his head around a split decision.
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Having mentioned that, White was immensely impressed with Sandhagen’s performance. He said that Sandhagen was “incredible” in the octagon. The way Sandhagen shut down Vera with his immaculate footwork, and timely takedowns, combined with witty lateral movements – struck as an all-encompassing performance to White.
Cory Sandhagen impressed Dana White
On the other hand, the UFC boss found Vera to be underwhelming. ‘Chito’ was riding high with ten wins out of his last twelve matches, among which he had four consecutive wins coming into this match. Usually, he takes time, which he did with Dominick Cruz as well. Vera had an acute sense of going for the kill in the latter stages. In this fight, he just went missing.
White felt that Vera was sloppy and sluggish from the get-go. However, he was hoping that Vera would bounce back in the last two rounds, as he quite often did. White even overheard Vera’s corner screaming at him to go for the kill in the last two rounds.
Credit must go to Sandhagen for reading his opponent’s moves and tactics. ‘Sandman’ barely gave Vera any room for the killer blow. In fact, Sandhagen absolutely battered Vera in the latter stages as well. Exactly how White felt about the fight. He drew an absolute conclusion citing that the fight was in no way a split decision.
White felt that Sandhagen was on top for the entirety of the fight. He went on to applaud Sandhagen for defeating the number three fighter. And later, hinted at Sandhagen receiving a title shot in the near future.
Sandhagen however called out the current champion Aljamain Sterling’s sparring partner Merab Dvalishvili. Sterling is set to defend his title against former two-division champion Henry Cejudo. If things go smoothly Sandhagen might get his title shot yet again after the interim title shot he got back in UFC 267, where he suffered a loss against Petr Yan.
Do you think Sandhagen will get a title shot in the upcoming months?
