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After Cory Sandhagen's hard-fought TKO win over Song Yadong at UFC Fight Night 210, 'The Sandman' challenged top bantamweights Marlon 'Chito' Vera and Merab Dvalishvili. The one-time UFC interim bantamweight title challenger's intention is to earn a title fight against the winner of the Aljamain Sterling vs. T.J. Dillashaw matchup.
'Chito' answered 'The Sandman's challenge with open arms. The promotion would be wise to book a bout between the two men. This is a unique situation given what is often the case as the UFC struggles to force top contenders to face each other.
With Cory Sandhagen and Marlon Vera, the UFC is in a favorable situation with two top contenders willing to fight. Thus, this list goes over five reasons why the promotion should book the two men to cross swords.
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#5. Cory Sandhagen and Marlon Vera are finishers
'The Sandman' called out both Marlon Vera and Merab Dvalishvili after his recent victory. Unfortunately, only one of those bouts makes sense and it isn't the one involving the Georgian native. Despite Merab Dvalishvili's recent win over José Aldo, UFC President Dana White remained unimpressed.
The lack of urgency that the Georgian showed by securing an over-under in the clinch and holding his Brazilian foe against the fence is in stark contrast to the level of excitement that Cory Sandhagen and Marlon Vera bring to the cage. Both men defeated their most recent foes with brutal finishes.
'Chito' flattened legendary bantamweight Dominick Cruz with a thunderous head kick. Meanwhile, 'The Sandman' sliced Song Yadong's face open en route to the cageside doctor declaring his opponent unfit to continue. Fans will be less likely to boo or deride the matchup as opposed to one involving Merab Dvalishvili.
Thus, both Vera and Sandhagen are likely to look good in the aftermath of their bout. The same cannot be said if Dvalishvili neutralizes Sandhagen by holding him against the cage.
#4. The fight is a title eliminator
The UFC bantamweight division is arguably the most stacked weight class in the promotion right now. Thus, creating pathways for challengers to the title is a full-time job. The division is home to several surging fighters, two of whom are Cory Sandhagen and Marlon Vera.
Prior to his recent win over Song Yadong, 'The Sandman' had lost back-to-back fights to T.J. Dillashaw and Petr Yan. The bout with Dillashaw was more hotly contested, with many believing that Sandhagen was on the wrong end of an incorrect decision from the judges.
Regardless, the 30-year old's recent victory returned him to the win column. Meanwhile, 'Chito' is fresh off a brutal knockout win over former undisputed champion Dominick Cruz, extending his win streak to four victories. A fight between both men will determine the next title challenger.
If Vera wins, he'll be a fresh face for either Dillashaw or Sterling to face, rendering it an intriguing matchup. If Sandhagen wins, it will be an interesting rematch as many fans feel he was robbed against Dillashaw and didn't really turn up against Sterling.
#3. The matchup is an interesting clash of styles
Both Cory Sandhagen and Marlon Vera have undergone stylistic evolutions. In the past, Sandhagen was a pot-shotter who rarely threw strikes with true intent to deal damage. Afterwards, 'The Sandhman' experienced a shift.
He upped the volume of strikes while using his superior height and reach compared to virtually every other bantamweight to frustrate them into committing mistakes. While he lacks significant punching and kicking power, it hardly matters when his foes are duped into running into his blows.
Sandhagen brutalizes his opponents from a long distance with his kicks and long, rangy punches. By maintaining a high volume of strikes while damaging his foes from a distance where his blows land but theirs fall short, he overwhelms his opponents. Eventually, his opponents come to believe that they must rush in and smother him.
However, this only leads to opponents running into his intercepting elbows and knees. Meanwhile, 'Chito' is a low-volume pressure striker who marches forward and brutalizes his foes with hard kicks and vicious boxing in the pocket when they try to lunge on the inside of a missed kick.
Vera is far more patient than any opponent Sandhagen has ever fought as he does not rush in. Instead, Vera stalks his opponents by crowding their space and attacking their legs and bodies with kicks since the last body part to exit range is the lower body, while the second-last part is the midsection.
While 'The Sandman' relies on volume, 'Chito' possesses true one-shot knockout power. Thus, the matchup is intriguing as it poses multiple questions. Among those questions is can Cory Sandhagen walk Marlon Vera into one of his elbows or knees?
Or will Vera's constant pressure and kicking tire out his foe due to forcing Cory Sandhagen onto the backfoot while his legs and body are butchered?
#2. The fight is an entertaining pay-per-view co-main or a Fight Night main event
Cory Sandhagen does not have boring fights. While Marlon Vera isn't as active in terms of his striking output, he is just as violent. Both men embody the two halves of the ideal fighter. 'The Sandman', while vicious, places great emphasis on the artistry and conceptual side of martial arts.
Meanwhile, his Ecuadorian counterpart embodies the warrior spirit and displays a more cold-blooded willingness to demolish his opponents. Furthermore, the differences in both men's respective styles mean that a potential matchup between the two would be highly entertaining.
Marlon Vera always marches forward, while Cory Sandhagen has developed a game to counter opponents who pressure him so zealously. Thus, the bout won't require a prolonged feeling-out process involving feints and reads. Instead, the matchup will be action-packed.
Such an entertaining bout can serve as either the main event of a Fight Night card or as the co-main event of a pay-per-view card in need of being bolstered.
#1. It will reveal Marlon Vera's ceiling
'Chito' has improved massively as a fighter. Since the stylistic changes he's undergone, he's transformed into a far more successful fighter inside the octagon. The Ecuadorian is now at the helm of a 4-fight win streak. Additionally, he's secured the highest-ever divisional ranking of his career at #5.
His wins include brutal knockouts over two former UFC champions, Frankie Edgar and Dominick Cruz. More-so than even that, 'Chito's' win over Cruz means he has defeated a mixed martial artist who is widely regarded as the greatest bantamweight of all time. While he's certainly good enough to beat the greats of yesteryear, his ceiling remains unknown.
A bout against Cory Sandhagen will reveal exactly how far Marlon Vera can go as a fighter. If he can defeat 'The Sandman' then the UFC has a reliable title threat on their hands who can act as an opening into the Ecuadorian market if he captures UFC gold en route to minor MMA stardom.
However, if he loses to Cory Sandhagen, then Marlon Vera could at the very least be used as a stiff test for younger up-and-coming fighters who the UFC might be interested in as future stars but have yet to determine if they're skilled enough to defeat top-ranked foes.
