The Ultimate Fighting Championship appears to have
listened to the fans.
On Thursday night,
Sports Illustrated first broke the news that Marlon Vera
(20-7-1) vs. Cory
Sandhagen (15-4) will no longer be taking place atop UFC
Fight Night 219. That event booked at the UFC Apex will not
keep Vera-Sandhagen on its billing anymore, as the five-round
bantamweight bonanza has been moved to
UFC on ESPN 43. This March 25 fight card will go down at the
AT&T Center in San Antonio, rather than the confines of the
Apex. It has not yet been determined which bout will serve as the
headliner of the Feb. 18 show, but news of this shift has been
confirmed by
multiple
outlets.
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After Vera vs. Sandhagen was announced, fan and media sentiment
reflected that a large audience should be treated to the potential
violence that is their five-rounder. The specific reason for its
relocation was not announced, but neither fighter appear to have
suffered an injury that would require their match bumped back one
month. At UFC Fight Night 219, the highest-billed fight remaining
on the listing is Taila
Santos vs. Erin
Blanchfield at 125 pounds.
Vera will come into this match on a tear, as the winner of his last
four bouts dating back to 2021. “Chito” has alternated decisions
wins over Davey Grant
and Rob
Font with clean knockouts of Frankie
Edgar and Dominick
Cruz, with the last coming in August 2022 in the headliner
against Cruz. The Ecuadorian with a stellar finish rate of 80%
possesses an equal number of knockouts to submissions on his
ledger, although knockouts do account for his last four stoppages.
Vera holds the UFC’s bantamweight record with the most wins inside
the distance (10) while trailing T.J.
Dillashaw’s top knockout spot (seven) by one.
Former interim title challenger Sandhagen put an end to his first
career losing streak – a split decision to Dillashaw and a
five-round defeat to Petr Yan for
the interim strap – by wrecking Yadong Song
in September 2022. After 20 minutes of action, the doctor
intervened to save Song from further damage, granting Sandhagen the
fifth win of this type in Round 4 or later in company history.
Before his pair of defeats, Sandhagen placed himself in top
contendership by wiping out Marlon
Moraes with a spinning wheel kick in 2021 and following it with
a highlight-reel flying knee on Edgar in early 2021.
UFC on ESPN 43 will be the first UFC event to air on ESPN in 2023,
and it will be held at San Antonio’s AT&T Center on March 25.
It is currently unclear if the reported rematch between Raquel
Pennington and Irene
Aldana will remain on the card. Other key fights on this
Texas-based show include a bantamweight battle pitting Holly Holm
against Yana
Kunitskaya, a flyweight scrap as Alex Perez
takes on Manel Kape
and a welterweight collision when Sean Brady
meets Michel
Pereira.