Vera-Sandhagen moved to UFC San Antonio; Santos-Blanchfield new Feb. 18 headliner
The pivotal bantamweight clash between Marlon Vera and Cory Sandhagen will take place one month later than expected.
Vera-Sandhagen has been pushed back to the UFC San Antonio main event on March 25 at AT&T Center, the promotion announced. The fight was originally scheduled to headline UFC Fight Night on Feb. 18 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
As a result, an already booked women's flyweight bout between former title challenger Taila Santos and rising star Erin Blanchfield has been elevated to the main attraction on Feb. 18.
Vera and Sandhagen enter the matchup as the Nos. 4- and 5-ranked bantamweights, respectively, with both looking to earn a shot at Aljamain Sterling's title.
Vera has won four in a row, which include finishes of former UFC champions Dominick Cruz and Frankie Edgar, and a marquee decision victory over Rob Font.
Sandhagen, a former interim bantamweight title challenger, returned to the win column last September with a doctor's stoppage TKO of Song Yadong. The 30-year-old was coming off back-to-back losses to former champs Petr Yan and TJ Dillashaw.
Santos is coming off a narrow loss to women's 125-pound champion Valentina Shevchenko last June. The Brazilian is 4-2 in the UFC and ranked No. 2 in the division.
Blanchfield, 23, has won four straight since signing with the promotion. Most recently, the top prospect ran through Molly McCann by first-round submission at UFC 281 last November.
UFC San Antonio will also feature a women's bantamweight bout between former titleholder Holly Holm and Yana Kunitskaya.