UFC bantamweight Cory Sandhagen blasts Marlon Vera for his performance at UFC 299, claiming ‘Chito’ was simply a “punching bag” for Sean O’Malley.
Sean O’Malley put on a masterclass in Miami as he earned a unanimous decision victory against long-term rival Marlon Vera with a performance that never really looked in doubt.
In the aftermath of a frustrating night for Vera, fellow bantamweight star Cory Sandhagen has blasted the Ecuadorian in an equally vicious manner, stating that he “had no business” being in a world title fight against O’Malley.
Cory Sandhagen blasts Marlon Vera for his performance at UFC 299
Sean O’Malley was unable to finish Marlon Vera at UFC 299, despite landing one of the most brutal knees in recent memory, instead earning a clear-cut unanimous decision victory in front of a raucous Miami crowd this past weekend.
The typically mild-mannered Sandhagen took no prisoners in his YouTube reaction video to UFC 299, praising O’Malley for studying tape from his own fight against Vera whilst lambasting the challenger for his poor performance:
“Chito obviously had no business being in the cage with O’Malley, really tough showing by Chito but awesome performance by O’Malley – got to give the guy all the credit in the world, although he was fighting a homeless-looking Chito.”
“[O’Malley] always comes to fight super prepared, and he obviously does his studying…O’Malley won in almost the same way that I beat Chito except he hit Chito a lot harder and a lot more, so good on him for doing that.”
The 17-4 fan-favorite explained that his frustration with the UFC 299 main event stemmed from three factors; its uncompetitive nature, the challenger’s disappointing output, and the fact that Vera had been given the opportunity over other bantamweight prospects.
Sandhagen also admitted that “I bought into the Chito hype, that was really stupid of me,” and added that “we all should have seen [the result] coming.”
“Chito was pretty much just a punching bag and [O’Malley] was just styling on him because Chito isn’t that good – hate to say it if you’re a Chito fan, but he’s just not that good…That sounded really mean but it’s kind of true.”
So, what would ‘Sandman’ like to see from the bantamweight champion next? To stay exactly where he is as the 135lb king.
“Hopefully he doesn’t leave the division and then start going for double champ status – I think that’s kind of whack right now, but we’ll see what the UFC decides.”