Sean O’Malley explains how fighting at the UFC Apex puts Cory Sandhagen at a “disadvantage” against Marlon Vera

Sean O’Malley is explaining how fighting at the UFC Apex puts Cory Sandhagen at a ‘disadvantage’ against Marlon Vera.

UFC Fight Night takes place on Saturday, February 18th, 2023 and will see Cory Sandhagen (15-4 MMA) vs Marlon Vera (20-7 MMA) in the bantamweight main event at the UFC Apex in Enterprise, Nevada.

Vera will be entering the Octagon with four wins in his last four fights, most recently defeating Dominick Cruz (24-4) in August of this year.

Sandhagen has won two of his last four fights, his most recent win coming against Yadong Song (19-7 MMA) in September of this year.

‘Sugar’ believes the smaller cage won’t make it easy for the 30 year old Sandhagen as he’s always in motion.

Sean O’Malley, speaking on his YouTube channel, shared his thoughts on the upcoming match (h/t MMAJunkie):

“The only difference is the cage – the small cage. The reason: The Apex doesn’t have a big cage and it makes zero sense. The big cage is – what? – 40 percent bigger than the small cage? Like, quite a bit – significantly bigger. That plays a role.”

Continuing O’Malley said:

“I think it gives ‘Chito’ (Vera) a pretty big advantage. I don’t know if advantage is the right word, but a disadvantage, rather, for Cory.”

As for who ‘Sugar’ wants to win, he concluded with:

“I want ‘Chito’ to win, obviously. Because then if that is the case, me vs. ‘Chito’ for the belt is massive. Or I go out there and beat whoever that is, and then first title defense against ‘Chito.’”

Sean O’Malley’s (16-1 MMA) one and only loss came against Marlon Vera in August of 2020 at UFC 252. Should ‘Chito’ defeat ‘Sandman’, a rematch would be in the cards.

Do you agree with O’Malley that Sandhagen is at a disadvantage because of the smaller cage? Who would you like to see come out the victor this coming February?

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