Sandoval promised Lee was nothing but an overprotected prospect, and he proved his proclamations were true by scoring a majority decision win in their 10-round welterweight bout at The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas.

The judges scored the bout in favor of Sandoval via scores of 97-93 and 96-94, while another judge had it 95-95. It can be argued the fight was scored too tight, but the right guy certainly was rewarded.

Sandoval outlanded Lee 176 to 136, including 62 to 28 to the body. And both fighters immediately exited the ring to be sent to the hospital for precautionary measures and observation.

Fighting for just the third time in three years and making his 147-pound debut, the 27-year-old Lee, once a heralded up-and-comer, lacked the experience needed to stay on the same level as the more seasoned Sandoval, who came in with 12 fewer fights than Lee.

Sandoval (18-1, 15 KOs) charged forward from the opening bell, unleashing a bevy of power shots, all while specifically targeting the body, too. Lee (30-1, 23 KOs), meanwhile, showed off better speed and countershots, picking and choosing his punches.

But the 23-year-old Sandoval landed first – and harder.

Sandoval connected with the first meaningful punch of the fight midway through the second and continued the attack in the third, this time to the body as action started to simmer. Lee mounted his offense in spurts with precisely timed, check left hooks during the exchanges, which paid dividends with some small swelling that started to develop near Sandoval’s right cheekbone in the fourth round.

Sandoval started building serious momentum in the fifth round by letting his hands go with a series of combinations. Lee defended himself admirably, but he wasn’t able to slip everything coming his way. Sandoval outlanded Lee 19-9 in the round.

Lee’s corner realized the fight was starting to slip away on the scorecards as the second half started, but he couldn't make the necessary adjustments as Sandoval continued breaking him down.

Sandoval bullied his rival with a battering in the corner to end the eighth round, capped by a head-snapping right hand.

Lee drew blood in the ninth round by slightly slicing Sandoval’s right cheekbone, but Sandoval landed a total of 51 punches in rounds eight and nine to make it clear he had no intention of allowing the fight to slip away.

Realizing he was down on the cards in the 10th, Lee desperately winged away but to no avail, as Sandoval seized his bounce-back win.

Sandoval came into the clash having suffered the first loss of his career against Julian Rodriguez via unanimous decision on the Zuffa Boxing 01 card in January. It was a rough outing for Sandoval, who ended up in the hospital for observation alongside Rodriguez while winning a performance bonus.

Sandoval versus Lee kicked off a three-fight main card for Zuffa Boxing 08 on Paramount+.In other preliminary fights:

Bantamweights: Floyd Diaz (14-1, 3 KOs ) suffered the first loss of his career in devastating fashion, a sixth-round technical knockout against Andres Teran (19-2, 14 KOs). Diaz was scoring a shutout across the cards but got caught with a crushing flush right hand and additional heavy leather thereafter, prompting referee Thomas Taylor to step in and stop the action at the 1:29 mark of the round. Diaz was somewhat defenseless on the ropes, and the stoppage appeared to be a bit premature, but the dazed Diaz didn’t appear too displeased with the decision.

Lightweights: Tony Hirsch Jr. (9-0-2, 5 KOs) viciously knocked out Jaybrio Pe Benito (7-1, 5 KOs) with three straight explosive right hands that planted Pe Benito on the canvas face first in the third round, leaving referee Tony Weeks no choice but to immediately wave off the fight at the 2:12 mark of the frame. Hirsch, a 24-year-old from Oakland, California, continued momentum off his upset majority decision win against Robert Meriwether III in March. Pe Benito, trained by Hall of Fame coach Freddie Roach, came into the fight four pounds overweight, paid a 25% fine from his purse and left with his unblemished record no longer intact.

Welterweights: Damoni Cato-Cain (10-1-2, 7 KOs) scored a unanimous decision victory over Vernon Brown (14-3-1, 10 KOs) in eight rounds via scores of 79-73, 78-74 and 78-74. Lightweights: Three months after fighting to a majority draw, Brady Ochoa (9-1-1, 2 KOs) and Adrian Serrano (7-0-2, 3 KOs) once again engaged in a firefight, and this time it was Serrano who did enough to notch the win, landing a unanimous decision victory via scores of 59-55, 59-55 and 58-56. Serrano outlanded Ochoa 196 to 128 in the hotly contested, six-round fight.

Heavyweights: Jakhongir Zokirov (2-0, 2 KOs) dropped Zachary Spiller (5-1, 4 KOs) in the first round and stopped him in the second with an onslaught of punches, forcing referee Weeks to halt the action at the 2:02 mark of the round.