BY COLIN BISH, STAFF WRITER
A massive conflict among UFC fans is deciding which fighters deserve a title shot. Often, those arguments boil down to what fighters those fans like rather than what fighters look the most impressive.
Thankfully, fans can put most of their preferences aside and support a title challenger who’s earned that right.
However, Marlon “Chito” Vera getting a Bantamweight title shot against champion Sean O’Malley is a bad decision — yet also the product of an odd situation.
First, the UFC’s Bantamweight division is brimming with talent. From O’Malley to legit contenders like Aljamain Sterling and Cory Sandhagen, it’s a minefield of formidable challengers all vying for an opportunity.
The UFC scheduled O’Malley’s first challenger to be Vera, providing fans with some intrigue considering Vera defeated the former champ back in 2020.
But I don’t find Vera to be the most-deserving challenger.
While Sterling and former-champion Henry Cejudo are both coming off losses, Sterling is the more-deserving challenger. Sterling had a great run as champ and was fighting a good bout against O’Malley before being knocked out.
As for Cejudo, he’s coming off a loss to Sterling and is looking to get another title shot, but he needs to earn it and not live off prior success.
Two other challengers I find to be the most deserving of a title shot are Sandhagen and Merab Dvalishvili. But again, like Sterling and Cejudo, those two also have their flaws.
Sandhagen has been incredibly impressive since entering the UFC, with his only losses coming to former Bantamweight champs Sterling, Petr Yan and T.J. Dillashaw.
Sandhagen has also had multiple great performances against tough opponents such as Rob Font, Song Yadong, Marlon Moraes and even Vera.
Sandhagen’s win over Vera was impressive, if controversial. The stats showed that Sandhagen was the much better fighter, but one judge gave the fight to Vera.
While Sandhagen won, it showed that some people would rather Vera as a title challenger, considering he has more market potential.
Vera is a brash trash-talker while Sandhagen is quieter, reserved and respectful. And as we know, trash-talking sells fights.
Dvalishvili is the other contender, and he has looked impressive as well. He’s currently on a nine-fight win streak with wins over Yan, Moraes and UFC great Jose Aldo.
However, he’s not getting a title opportunity because of his own fault. Dvalishvili refused to fight his teammate Sterling for the title, so the UFC decided to not grant him a shot. It’s evident that Dvalishvili didn’t want the title and would rather his teammate get the shine while he held up the division.
One decision could fix this mess — book a fight between Dvalishvili and Sandhagen to determine O’Malley’s next challenger. If they want Vera to get that title shot, then make him earn it by fighting a contender, just like any of the other four fighters I mentioned.
bishcj22@bonaventure.edu
