Cory Sandhagen stays firm in his criticism of UFC bantamweight Marlon Vera: “Which improvements did you make?”

Cory Sandhagen Doubles Down on Criticism of Chito Vera

During an appearance on MMAFighting‘s “The MMA Hour,” Cory Sandhagen told Ariel Helwani that he is unsure if “Chito” Vera has learned anything from their fight back in March 2023.

“One, I didn’t really dig the fact that he was the one fighting for the title,” Sandhagen said. “Granted, I was hurt, but it still didn’t feel right to me. And that’s not his fault either. I’ll give him a little bit of credit for that, where that’s not necessarily his fault, because if someone asks you to fight for a title, you don’t say no.

“But just watching how the fight went also — and again, I’m trying not to go hard on ‘Chito’ because that’s not my style — but I was like, ‘Man, you’re literally fighting a replica of me, essentially, who does things a little bit differently. But same build, same style almost — and you went in and you fought almost the exact same [as you did against me]. Like, which improvements did you make? Why didn’t you at least attempt a takedown? Why didn’t you at least do things a little bit differently than when you fought me? Like, did you learn anything from our fight?”

Sandhagen is gearing up for a showdown with Umar Nurmagomedov on August 3 for a UFC Fight Night event in Abu Dhabi.