No.3-ranked UFC bantamweight contender Cory Sandhagen has weighed in on the upcoming UFC 299 main event.
This weekend’s event will see UFC Bantamweight Champion Sean O’Malley defend the gold against Marlon “Chito” Vera. ‘Chito’ handed O’Malley his sole loss back at UFC 252 with a first-round TKO.
Regardless of whoever wins this weekend, there are two very dangerous potential challengers waiting in the wings. One is Georgian endurance machine is Merab Dvalishvili, who is rumored to be the next challenger. The other is “The Sandman,” who is currently on a three-fight winning streak.
‘Two Styles Of Fights Do Not Match Up Well’ – Cory Sandhagen On O’Malley/Vera 2
In a recent video uploaded to his YouTube channel, Cory Sandhagen compared the fighters’ styles. He explained that O’Malley typically looks to capitalize on openings and mistakes to land big shots.
Unfortunately for “Sugar,” Vera does not make many of the mistakes the champ typically looks to capitalize on.
“Why I think the ‘Chito’ and O’Malley fight is going to be a lot closer than what people think is because those two styles of fights do not match up very well,” Sandhagen explained. “You’re trying to fit a square inside of a triangle, it doesn’t really work too well. ‘Chito’ is really good at not making too many mistakes, not opening up really big, like O’Malley has shown he will definitely capitalize on. ‘Chito’ does not do those things.”
“The Sandman” elaborated that O’Malley’s propensity to fight from the outside and launch strikes at range isn’t ideal against a fighter like “Chito.”
“O’Malley, playing from the outside, he wants to snipe him,” Sandhagen said. “He wants ‘Chito’ to take a step in, he wants him to make a mistake, and he’ll make him punish for that. I don’t really feel like ‘Chito’ is going to make a ton of those mistakes.”
Cory Sandhagen went on to suggest that O’Malley’s ideal path to victory could involve focusing more on volume and less on riskier big shots.
