Cory Sandhagen will be keeping a close eye on the UFC 299 main event this weekend and he believes fans will be ‘surprised’ at the outcome.
Sean O’Malley defends his bantamweight title for the first time, as he looks to settle the score with Chito Vera in a rematch that has been anticipated for four years.
Sandhagen may have found himself as the first to challenge O’Malley’s title reign if it wasn’t for him fully tearing his tricep in August against Rob Font.
The 31-year-old has previously shared the Octagon with ‘Chito’ Vera and believes fans will be surprised with how this fight plays out due to both fighters’ styles.
Cory Sandhagen thinks UFC 299 main event will be surprising
Talking on his YouTube channel, Cory Sandhagen shared his tactical nouse and experience of sharing five rounds in the cage with Vera, explaining how his style poses a threat.
“Chito Vera is really good at being defensive. The guy acts as if he’s a big mighty tough guy but he kind of is a very high-priority defensive fighter. He’s really difficult to hit which I know from fighting him, really difficult to hit clean at least, that’s one of Chito’s abilities and skills that I think gets overlooked a bit.
“Against some other opponents, you see he has this ability to make a few reads, takes him quite a bit of time, and then be able to knock someone out. The guy also hits like a cannon, that’s going to pose a decent amount of problems for O’Malley.”
According to UFC stats, Chito Vera has a career-striking defense percentage of 51%, with O’Malley’s topping 61%.
The Coloradan went on to break down ‘Suga’ Sean’s game and detailed what makes him unique, but then offered his reason why he thinks this fight will surprise a lot of people.
“O’Malley is a master at keeping space, he’s a master of sniping people from the outside or if they make mistakes. The problem with O’Malley’s fighting style and the things he does really well, he doesn’t defensively protect himself with a good guard but he defensively protects himself with space.
“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. I still have a lot of my eggs in the O’Malley basket just because I do think that it’s going to be a striking match no doubt.
I have my chips on O’Malley because I do think that as far as him as an athlete and his attributes and the way he does things it does make him more of an elite striker than Chito. The only thing Chito has that tops what O’Malley can do is he defends really well and he’s going to be able to hit O’Malley pretty hard.”
If Chito Vera is successful in his attempt, he will become the fighter with the third-longest amount of fights, before winning a UFC title.