Tonight, the UFC hosted their fifth fight night from Fight Island. The night was filled with great action including one of the better knockouts you’ll ever seen dished out by Joaquin Buckley.
In the main event of the evening, two top UFC bantamweights went head to head as “Magic” Marlon Moraes (23-6-1) took on Cory Sandhagen (12-2). Both men were looking to take another step forwards towards a UFC title shot win a win on Fight Island.
Early on in the fight, Sandhagen was doing a really good job of fighting from the outside and using his size advantage. However, Moraes started landing some power shots about halfway through the first round. Despite landing a few power shots, Moraes was not getting the best of the exchanges early.
Sandhagen did a fantastic job of being elusive in the first round. Moraes was landing some decent shots, however, Sandhagen was doing a fantastic job of mixing up his combinations and landing more shots in the first round.
Moraes came out looking very tentative in the second round. Sandhagen cracked him with a couple of shots and shouted out that he broke Moraes’ orbital.
Seconds later, Sandhagen flattened Moraes with a spinning wheel kick. A few follow up shots followed before the ref called a stop to the action. Massive UFC win for Sandhagen.
The Sandman just made a statement ? #UFCFightIsland5 pic.twitter.com/YDadyjMlyf
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) October 11, 2020
What’s next after UFC Fight Island 5?
UFC Fight Island 5 was a big of a coming out party for Cory Sandhagen. Sandhagen was already one of the better bantamweights in the UFC, but this win puts him on another level. He was embarrassed by Aljamain Sterling back at UFC 250.
After the fight was over, Sandhagen talked about potentially fighting Frankie Edgar or the returning TJ Dillashaw next. The main thing is that Sandhagen wants a shot at the UFC belt. While it was a sensational performance for Sandhagen, the same couldn’t be said for Moraes.
For the Magic Man, this was arguably his third straight loss in the UFC. Moraes needs to head back to the drawing board and figure out what’s next for him. Tonight was his first camp under American Top Team, and he didn’t have the results he was looking for.