Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is bringing a fan-friendly bantamweight main event to its upcoming UFC San Antonio mixed martial arts (MMA) fight card on ESPN+, recently made official for Sat., March 25, 2023 inside AT&T Center in Texas.
Marlon Vera vs. Cory Sandhagen.The red-hot Vera (20-7-1) is the winner of four straight with two knockouts, including his fourth-round finish over former bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz in the UFC San Diego main event last August. “Chito” is currently ranked No. 4 at 135 pounds.
That’s just one spot above the No. 5-ranked Sandhagen (15-4), who rebounded from consecutive decision losses to Petr Yan and TJ Dillashaw to stop bantamweight up-and-comer Yadong Song in the UFC Vegas 60 headliner back in September.
Now they have an official poster (full version below).
UFC San Antonio will also feature the bantamweight showdown between Holly Holm and Yana Kunitskaya. Elsewhere on the card, Maycee Barber and Andrea Lee hook ‘em up at 125 pounds. In addition, Chidi Njokuani and Albert Duraev get busy at middleweight.
Expect more UFC San Antonio fight card announcements in the coming days.
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Chito’s gonna wear gold some day.
UFC San Antonio has taken a hit to one of the marquee fights on the card.
Welterweight contender Sean Brady has been forced to drop out his upcoming matchup against Michel Pereira on March 25 due to injury.
Sources close to the fight confirmed the news to MMA Fighting on Saturday, although the severity of Brady’s injury is unknown at this time.
At this time, it remains to be seen if Pereira will remain on the card against a replacement opponent or wait until a later date to book his next fight.
It’s disappointing news for Brady, who was looking to bounce back from the first loss of his career after falling to Belal Muhammad by knockout at UFC 280. Prior to that setback, Brady had gone 18-0 including five wins in the UFC with victories over the likes of Michael Chiesa, Jake Matthews and Christian Aguilera.
As for Pereira, he’s currently riding a five-fight win streak with his last fight ending with a split decision win over Santiago Ponzinibbio in a Fight of the Night performance this past May.
Now he’ll have to wait and see if the UFC can find a suitable replacement or potentially wait to book his next fight later in the year.
The UFC San Antonio card will be headlined by a matchup between two top bantamweights as Cory Sandhagen takes on Marlon “Chito” Vera.
UFC San Antonio Main Event On ESPN/ ESPN+:
135 lbs.: Marlon Vera vs. Cory Sandhagen
UFC San Antonio Main Card On ESPN/ ESPN+ (7 p.m. ET):
135 lbs.: Holly Holm vs. Yana Santos
145 lbs.: Nate Landwehr vs. Austin Lingo
125 lbs.: Maycee Barber vs. Andrea Lee
125 lbs.: Manel Kape vs. Alex Perez
185 lbs.: Albert Duraev vs. Chidi Njokuani
UFC San Antonio Prelims Card On ESPN+ (4 p.m. ET):
145 lbs.: Tucker Lutz vs. Daniel Pineda
145 lbs.: Lucas Alexander vs. Steven Peterson
170 lbs.: Trevin Giles vs. Preston Parsons
125 lbs.: Daniel Da Silva vs. CJ Vergara
155 lbs.: Trey Ogden vs. Manuel Torres
125 lbs.: Victor Altamirano vs. Vinicius Salvador
135 lbs.: Hailey Cowan vs. Tamires Vidal
My heart says Chito and my mind says Chito!
I think sandhagen is going to mop the floor with him
He’ll need to visit a jewelry store for that
Not a great card but at least it’s early
Austin Lingo wasn’t sure when he was going to fight again.
After Lingo got injured in 2022 and had to pull out of two fights, he was booked to face Ricardo Ramos at UFC Las Vegas on March 11. Yet, on weigh-in day, Ramos missed weight by eight pounds and the fight was scrapped which was frustrating for Lingo.
“Man, it was bad,” Lingo said on Just Scrap Radio on BJPENN.com. “I was like, ‘what no way.’ Knowing Ricardo had an injury or something and couldn’t make weight, I was like that sucks for him, and I hope he gets better, but still, I don’t get to fight, I was mad. It was upsetting.”