UFC San Antonio lost a little bit of juice after 3 fights fell of the card, but what we did get was a pretty solid event. There weren't really any awful fights. Njokuani vs Duraev was probably the worst of the night, but it's not like that was one of the big ones people were looking forward to. Holm vs Santos wasn't great either, but people were generally happy to see Holly do well. After I finished rolling my eyes are her "what about the children" speech, I was able to enjoy a really high level main event. Cory Sandhagen is one of my favorite fighters on the roster, so I was pulling for him, but you have to love Chito as well. I didn't enjoy seeing him lose, but it was a bit disappointing to see him never really get going. I think that a lot of that has to do with Sandhagen and the looks he was giving, but at some point, Chito should have tried opening it up more. I know that's easy for me to say, but Chito is one of the toughest guys in the sport and he's proven that time and time again. I know he's not afraid to get hit, so I was sad for him in a sense that he just had a bad night in what was one of the biggest nights of his career. We are on a crazy run of great main events that started at the beginning of March and goes all the way until the end of April. Anyways, enough of my rambling, let's get into this one.
Cory Sandhagen fought really, really well. If he's turning in that kind of performance consistently now, I still think he's on the short list of potential champions in the bantamweight divisions. Seeing him continue to improve in the wrestling aspect of things is huge and he's going to need it in order to either capture the title or hang onto it. I don't think Cory is ever going to be diving on someone's legs, but the ability to mix it in whenever his opponent doesn't expect it or whenever it is an exploitable part of his opponent's skillset is significant. We're going to need to see how much better he's gotten defensively and I assume we'll find out pretty soon considering the matchups that are on deck for him. To bring it back to this fight though, I think we saw Cory really accel in the areas we knew he was good at. His range management was tremendous and that seemed like the real key. He was able to land from the outside with jabs and kicks to easily out strike Chito on numbers. He was never really there for Chito to hit, so he absorbed only a few solid strikes. Cory was able to execute an all the way in or all the way out gameplan really well. He was never standing in the pocket with Chito and exposing himself. Whenever Chito did land, Cory was able to get it right back. That really gave off the feeling that Chito never really did anything. Outside of that single 1-2 combination that Chito landed clean, I can't really think of much else he did successfully. I hate to say it for Chito's sake, but this kind of felt like a "there's levels to this" kind of fight in a lot of ways. I don't think it's absurd to say that may have been the best performance of Cory's career.
It really seemed like the Cory vs Merab Dvalishvili fight was sitting right there, especially after Cory called him out, but apparently that isn't the direction the UFC wants to go. We're getting rumors that seem legitimate that the UFC is looking to book a Merab vs Umar Nurmagomedov main event. They wanted it in May, but Merab is recovering from an injury. It sounds as if that's the fight they want, so they are looking to make that fight in June or July. If that's the case, then that takes away the clearest opponent for Sandhagen's next fight. If not Merab, Sean O'Malley is also sitting right there. The thing with that is I sort of assume that O'Malley is on the sidelines and is just going to get the next title shot. I mostly expect O'Malley to be the backup for Aljo vs Cejudo in May and then get his own title shot the following fight. I suppose that really leaves the Font vs Yanez winner for Cory. That seems a bit weird, but I don't know where else he really goes. I guess if Ricky Simon beats Song Yadong then that is an option for him as well, but I'm not sure how the timelines work out. I guess the Font vs Yanez winner would make for a fun fight, so why not.
I see a lot of people acting really surprised at the way Chito performed and that has kind of confused me. I agree that Chito wasn't at his best, but he was stylistically much the same guy that he's been for the vast majority of this run. A big hole in Chito's game is the same thing I always talk about with Petr Yan and that's the slow starts. Because Chito has had these comeback wins, it's always been chalked up to him "downloading information" when, in reality, at least for Chito, he just doesn't really do a whole lot. Chito is a guy who largely relies on big moments to swing rounds and fights, especially against top 15 level competition. In my opinion, there was always going to be a limit to how far that style could really take him. Finishing fights with that level of consistency just isn't going to happen at the top of a division. He doesn't have power like Francis Ngannou and he's not a finisher at the level of Charles Oliveira. Chito doesn't fight with the same aggression and risk as Charles to create those finishes. Oliveira takes a lot of risks and a lot of damage in order to finish at the rate he does. Chito doesn't do that. He wants to stand at range, throw some left kicks, and a few 1-2 combinations and hopes to get knockdowns or knockouts. I said earlier that I think Cory was probably the worst matchup in terms of guys who were likely to stand with Chito and I think that showed. Cory was too skilled at managing distance to walk into a left high kick and too durable to get dropped by an isolated straight left hand. Again, I think all of that holds true even when Chito is at his best. Now consider that Chito wasn't at his best and that was the kind of one sided fight that I think more people should've been expecting. In terms of what Chito normally does, it's just a really bad matchup, especially with the improvements Cory has made to his grappling. To suggest improvements or adjustments, would just be improving Chito's style and gameplan. He needs to throw more strikes and push more of a pace. He's not a guy who has a history of gassing out, so I'm not sure I understand his slow pace. If he's going to continue fighting these top 8 opponents, he can't get doubled up on strike totals fight in and fight out. He also can't keep fighting off of his back for extended minutes. Losing two rounds based on top time to Cory Sandhagen isn't a good sign for what a lot of other fighters in this division would do to him. Aljo, Cejudo, Merab, Ricky Simon, and Umar Nurmagomedov would all hold Chito down for like 18 minutes of top control in a 25 minute fight as things currently stand. Chito has something in there, but he has to give himself a chance to get the most out of it. He just has to start faster and get more offense going.
I think the next move for Chito has to be the Petr Yan fight. There was some rumors that the UFC was looking to put this fight together back when Chito ended up fighting Dominick Cruz I believe and it never materialized. If not this, I don't really know what the next best option would be for either of them. They're both coming off of a loss and it is a fight that could easily headline a Fight Night in front of fans. If Rob Font loses to Adrian Yanez coming up, then I guess Font is an option for Yan, but having just fought Chito recently that's out. Chito vs Yanez would probably be pretty fun if that's the direction they wanted to go. I just think the Chito vs Yan fight is too obvious of an opportunity to pass up.
I know this is late, but ended up having to work more than typical this week, so this will be coming out and then the Colby Covingon welterweight title picture post is following. What did you think of this fight? What do you want to see next for both of these men? Thanks for reading and have a good one.
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