Vera has posted two wins in each of the last two years to arrive here on a four-fight winning streak. Last spring, he scored a unanimous decision victory over Rob Font before collecting a fourth-round knockout win over Dominick Cruz in August. The 30-year-old is one of the best developmental stories in UFC history and looks to take another step towards fighting for championship gold with a win here.
After a couple close, competitive losses to TJ Dillashaw and Petr Yan, Sandhagen got back into the win column with a fourth-round stoppage victory over Song Yadong in his lone appearance of 2022. The Colorado resident has only lost to individuals that have held or went on to hold the bantamweight title thus far in his UFC run, and will look to swap places in the rankings by besting Vera on Saturday night.
This should be an extremely competitive, captivating fight, as Sandhagen is a dynamic, fluid striker who uses a great deal of movement and throws in combination, where Vera is constantly seeking to do as much damage as possible. A win may not assure the victor of a title opportunity, but it will keep them very much in the mix as we head into the second quarter of 2023.
UFC’S 30TH ANNIVERSARY EXPERIENCE | BREAKING BARRIERS
Other Main Card Fights
Holly Holm vs. Yana Santos
Holly Holm and Yana Santos meet in a battle of Top 10 bantamweights angling to get things moving in the right direction to kick off their 2023 campaigns.
Holm dropped a widely discussed split decision to Ketlen Vieira in her lone appearance of 2022, logging tons of control time, but doing little damage. Santos returns after giving birth to her first child with her husband, former title challenger Thiago Santos, looking to rebound from a first-round stoppage loss to Irene Aldana in July 2021.