What’s next for Cory Sandhagen and Marlon Vera after UFC San Antonio?

In the main event of UFC San Antonio, a battle of top-five bantamweights went down as Cory Sandhagen took on Marlon Vera.

Sandhagen was coming off a TKO doctor stoppage win over Song Yadong back in September, this after losing back-to-back fights to Petr Yan for the interim belt and a controversial split decision loss to TJ Dillashaw. Vera, meanwhile, was riding a four-fight winning streak and was coming off a KO win over Dominick Cruz.

Ultimately, it was Sandhagen who cruised to a decision win at UFC San Antonio – but one judge surprisingly scored it for Vera – to extend his win streak to two. Now, after UFC San Antonio, here is what I think should be next for both fighters involved in the main event.

Cory Sandhagen

Cory Sandhagen had a great game plan for his UFC San Antonio main event against Marlon Vera. Sandhagen knew Vera was a slow starter so he won the early rounds by getting timely takedowns and made Vera have to fight from behind. Although Vera has been known to fight from behind, in his past couple of wins, he has been able to win by getting a KO, but Sandhagen was too hard to hit for ‘Chito’ to land the big shot.

After the win, Sandhagen called out Merab Dvalishvili which makes a lot of sense. Aljamain Sterling is set to defend his title against Henry Cejudo and Sean O’Malley will get the winner. However, Umar Nurmagomedov recently came out and said he was offered a main event against Dvalishvili and will be waiting for him.

So, if the UFC’s plan is indeed Dvalishvili-Nurmagomedov, Sandhagen will have to fight behind him. With that, I like the winner of Rob Font-Adrian Yanez to face Sandhagen, if Dvalishvili really is booked, if not, that is the fight to make.

Marlon Vera

Marlon Vera had his four-fight winning streak snapped and is now in a weird spot in the division given the fact most of the bantamweights are booked.

Yet, Vera did call out Petr Yan on social media after the loss and that is a fight I think makes a lot of sense. Although I did say Yan should fight Cruz after his loss, we don’t really know if Cruz will fight again – and he is now linked to Cody Garbrandt.

Vera vs. Yan would be a great Fight Night main event and a big one for both of their careers. The loser would enter the gatekeeper role at 135lbs while the winner would be right back in the mix for a title shot.

What do you think should be next for Cory Sandhagen and Marlon Vera after UFC San Antonio?