The UFC has decided to go in a different direction for one of its upcoming headliners.
Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated reported on Thursday that Marlon Vera vs. Cory Sandhagen has shifted from UFC Vegas 69 to UFC San Antonio, an event scheduled for March 25 at the AT&T Center in Texas. The promotion was reportedly finalizing Raquel Pennington vs. Irene Aldana II for the headliner of the Fight Night, but it appears as though that has been nixed.
There was no report on a new headliner for UFC Vegas 69, which is set for February 18 at the UFC APEX.
In his most recent appearance, Vera extended his win streak to four with a ‘Performance of the Night’ awarded KO of Dominick Cruz at UFC San Diego in August. Prior to that, ‘Chito’ added Davey Grant, Frankie Edgar and Rob Font to his resume. With a ‘solid win’ over Sandhagen, Vera believes he should be next in line for a potential championship opportunity.
Following back-to-back losses to T.J. Dillashaw and Petr Yan, Sandhagen returned to the Octagon this past September. The ‘Sandman’ earned a fourth-round TKO of Song Yadong at UFC Vegas 60 after opening up a gnarly gash that led to the fight being stopped in between rounds.
With the shift, the line-up for UFC San Antonio is as follows:
- Marlon Vera vs. Cory Sandhagen
- Maycee Barber vs. Andrea Lee
- Chidi Njokuani vs. Albert Duraev
- Holly Holm vs. Yana Santos
- C.J. Vergara vs. Daniel da Silva
- Manel Kape vs. Alex Perez
- Sean Brady vs. Michel Pereira
- Daniel Pineda vs. Tucker Lutz
- Trevin Giles vs. Preston Parsons
- Alex Caceres vs. Nate Landwehr
- Steven Peterson vs. Lucas Alexander
Stay tuned to Bloody Elbow for more updates to the event as they become available in the coming weeks.
About the author: Kristen King is a writer for Bloody Elbow. She has covered combat sports since 2016. (full bio)
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