Cory Sandhagen dominated Marlon Moraes in the main event of UFC Fight Island 5. Even though Marlon Moraes is an extremely tough opponent for anyone in the bantamweight division Sandhagen made him look like he does not belong there.
How Cory Sandhagen was able to nullify the strengths of Marlon Moraes so effectively? Let’s dive into this bantamweight class and look at the brilliance of Cory Sandhagen.
Going into the fight Cory Sandhagen had a huge reach advantage over Moraes. And that was a crucial factor in the win of Sandhagen. Sandhagen is very tall for the bantamweight division.
Moraes was not able to get into the striking zone. He did try to cover the distance and land a few spinning back fist but that did not have a huge impact on the fight. Moraes was unable to cut the cage and put the pressure on Sandhagen.
Cory Sandhagen did not allow Moraes to do what he does best, which is put the pressure on his opponent and land bombs. Moraes is usually the aggressor in the first two rounds. He had a ton of success in the first two rounds against Henry Cejudo and Jose Aldo. But, Sandhagen came out with more volume strikes in the first round.
Cory Sandhagen showcased dynamic and unpredictable striking in the first round. He was landing the leg kicks that were forcing Moraes to reset. He was landing beautiful body kicks, knowing that it would have useful in the later rounds when Moraes starts to slow down.
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Moraes was landing a beautiful knee to the body of Moraes. He looked flawless in the first round when it comes to striking. Despite the reach disadvantage, Moraes was a threat in the early rounds. But, Sandhagen nullified all those threats with his striking.
Cory Sandhagen secures a stunning knockout win over Marlon Moraes
In the second round, he finished the fight with a stunning wheel kick, which was unexpected. Most of the fans were expecting Sandhagen to win in the final rounds when Moraes slows down a lot. However, after the dominant first round, it was clear that Moraes did not stand a chance against Sandhagen with his fighting style.
WHAT A KNOCKOUT BY CORY SANDHAGENpic.twitter.com/RolD6xapcg
— Spinnin Backfist (@SpinninBackfist) October 11, 2020
With this win, Cory Sandhagen has bounced back from the loss against Aljamain Sterling in the best way possible. And it won’t be crazy if he gets a title shot after Aljamain Sterling.
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