The Bantamweight main event of UFC San Antonio, starring Cory Sandhagen versus Marlon Vera, took place on Saturday, March 25, 2023 at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas. 25 minutes of action saw “The Sandman” outwork “Chito,” winning by a split vote. Holly Holm won the co-main event by unanimous vote over Yana Santos.
Main Card Results- Cory Sandhagen defeats Marlon Vera
Following a fairly convincing victory over Petr Yan a few weeks back, Merab Dvalishvili entered the championship race. And now Sandhagen, who is presently ranked No. 3, has followed suit following his own impressive and resounding victory over Vera. After suffering back-to-back defeats to T.J. Dillashaw and Petr Yan, “The Sandman” has now amassed two sizable victories in a row, regaining his momentum. Despite the fact that Sandhagen won’t achieve what Vera did, who was widely expected to shoot close to the top of the championship race with a victory, Sandhagen may only need one more significant victory to reach that position. He believes that challenging Dvalishvili and winning will get him there.
Sandhagen started out as the early aggressor, knocking down “Chito,” and spending the majority of the opening frame in top control. With time passing in the fight, “Sandman” began to make ground and use his enormous size advantage to pick the Ecuadorian apart from a distance. In the final moments of the battle, Vera let loose a frantic flurry, but it was obviously insufficient. Sandhagen put on a commanding performance, but to the dismay of UFC supporters and commentators, he was only able to secure a split decision victory.
Co-main Event Results- Holly Holm defeated Yana Santos
The co-main event of the evening featured a fight between UFC women’s bantamweight veterans Holly Holm and Yana Santos. Holly Holm is regarded as one of the greatest female fighters of all time. In MMA, she perfected a vicious head kick that helped her defeat Ronda Rousey to become the UFC women’s bantamweight champion. In a separate move, Holm demonstrated the development of her grappling against Yana Santos at UFC Fight Night on Saturday, winning by unanimous decision. Santos was grounded by Holm in the final seconds of Round 1 before coming back in the second and third rounds.
After entangling Santos in a crucifix and launching a barrage of strikes on her in the second round, Holm looked to have the fight won, but Santos managed to escape just in time.
In Round 3, Holm attempted to submit with a rear-naked choke, but she was eventually unsuccessful. Nevertheless, Holm outscored Santos on the scorecards and even received a 30-26 rating from one judge, while the other two judges gave her a 30-27.
In the sold-out arena, three of ten fights—including the main event—were stopped before the final bell rang. One was a TKO on the preliminary program, and the other two finishes were victories by submission.
The night’s top fight was the flyweight contest between CJ Vegara and Daniel Lacerda on the preliminary programme. Nate Landwehr and Daniel Pineda, who won their fights via submission, also received an additional USD50K as performance bonuses.
UFC San Antonio 2023 Results
Main Card
- Cory Sandhagen (50-45, 49-46) defeated Marlon Vera (48-47) by split decision.
- Holly Holm defeated Yana Santos by unanimous decision (30-26, 30-27, 30-27).
- Nate Landwehr defeated Austin Lingo by submission (rear-naked choke) at 4:11 of Round 2.
- Maycee Barber (29-28, 30-27) defeated Andrea Lee (29-28) by split decision
- Albert Duraev (29-28, 29-28) defeated Chidi Njokuani (29-28) by split decision.
- Daniel Pineda defeated Tucker Lutz by submission (guillotine choke) at 2:50 of Round 2.
Preliminary Card
- Lucas Alexander defeated Steven Peterson by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27).
- Trevin Giles (29-28, 29-28) defeated Preston Parsons by split decision (29-28).
- CJ Vergara defeated Daniel Lacerda by TKO (strikes) at 4:04 of Round 2.
- Victor Altamirano defeated Vinicius Salvador by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28).
