The UFC touched down in San Antonio on Saturday night for another edition of UFC on ESPN, headlined by a bantamweight main event between Marlon “Chito” Vera and Cory Sandhagen.
There were a number of other exciting matchup on the cards as well, including a co-main event which featured former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Holly Holm and one-time featherweight title challenger Yana Santos.
For a full list of results and post-fight analysis see below.
Main Event: Cory Sandhagen def. Marlon Vera via split decision (47-48, 49-46, 50-45)
Sandhagen and Vera battled it out in a highly-anticipated bantamweight headliner, which saw the former use his style to stifle Vera throughout the matchup. After going 5 rounds, Sandhagen earned a 50-45, 49-46 on two scorecards, while judge Joel Ojeda somehow managed to score the fight 48-47 in favor of Vera.
Despite the split decision, Sandhagen looked dominant in the fight, landing a variety of strikes which included a flying knee that took the wind out of Vera’s sails in the first round. Vera struck back in the second via a takedown but was unable to lock in the guillotine. The rest of the fight seemed to go Sandhagen’s way, as he landed more and more blows as Vera started to open up.
With the win, Sandhagenis on his second consecutive victory and improved to 4-2 in his last six fights. Vera snapped his impressive four-fight win streak and now has a 20-8-1 MMA record.
Co- Main Event: Holly Holm def. Yana Santos via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-27, 30-27)
In the co-main event Holly Holm was able to use her wrestling prowess to bully Yana Santos and win the fight via unanimous decision through three rounds. The scorecards were relatively lopsided, giving Holm a 30-26 scorecard, and a pair of 30-27s from the other judges.
With the win, the former bantamweight champion bounces back after losing controversially to Ketlen Vieira. She is now 3-1 in her last four fights and 15-6 in her MMA career. Santos will need to go back to the drawing board after lowering her record to 14-7-0.
Other Main Event Card Fight
Nate Landwehr def. Austin Lingo via submission (rear-naked choke) at 4:11 of R2
Maycee Barber def. Andrea Lee via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 30-27)
Albert Duraev def. Chidi Njokuani via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
Daniel Pineda def. Tucker Lutz by submission (guillotine choke) at 2:50 of R2
There were a bunch of great betting opportunities on Saturday and still loads to come. If you plan on betting on the next UFC event be sure to check out our list of the top UFC betting sites in Ontario for the highest odds and best betting features.
