He’s found himself on the outside looking in – largely for reasons out of his control – but former UFC interim title challenger Cory Sandhagen is looking forward to the prospect of a title eliminator with considerable proportions on a third trip to Saudi Arabia this summer against highly-regarded contender Umar Nurmagomedov [10] at 135lbs. Naturally, it won’t be an easy task either…
Sandhagen: Abu Dhabi awesome, I’m excited about Aug. 3
CORY Sandhagen’s laidback approach to fight politics saw the #2 ranked contender miss out on the current title sweepstakes involving Sean O’Malley and Merab Dvalishvili, but it should come as no surprise he’d rather face the former if successful in three months’ time vs. a highly-regarded unbeaten prospect in the Middle East.
Set to headline the promotion’s return to Abu Dhabi on August 3, Umar Nurmagomedov (17-0 MMA, 5-0 UFC) will finally stand across from him two days shy of a year since their original booking was shelved as the Dagestani sustained a shoulder injury in training the month prior and was forced to withdraw.
Longtime contender Rob Font stepped in on short-notice before being soundly beaten, but Sandhagen himelf suffered a torn right triceps issue in the first-round and proved unable to produce the sort of standout stoppage he has in the past.
Per an interview with MMAJunkie, Sandhagen said:
“I don’t try to complain too much or have too many opinions, just ask for more money if they want me to do things I feel are a little bit unreasonable. It’s still going to be a main event in a really cool city, get to go to the Middle East, which is fun for me and actually be able to explore a little bit before and after.
Go early to do the whole shifting my timezone thing, which I didn’t do the last couple times. I’m still really excited about it, Abu Dhabi fans were awesome and really fair – I didn’t feel like I was in enemy territory.”
He memorably scored a highlight reel spinning wheel kick win over Marlon Moraes on his first trip abroad back in October 2020, before losing a competitive UD5 against former champion Petr Yan for interim gold twelve months later.
Riding a three-fight win streak after victories against Song Yadong, former title challenger Marlon Vera and Font most recently, the promotion have used this matchup to dangle a carrot his way – win and who gets the next title shot?
“This go-around, they relayed to me, ‘I don’t know how you won’t be next after Merab if you win this fight.’ Who ele is there that can really do that? I also think me and Sean is a really huge fight, I’ll be rooting for O’Maley just because the bigger the fight and challenge, the better. That’s the one fans want to see, I want to give them what they want.”
O’Malley vs. Dvalishvili hasn’t been formally announced yet, though both have confirmed they’d be ready for a showdown in quarter four of this year.
A matchup consisting of different styles, Sandhagen previewed the championship bout by posing good questions they’d need to answer to be successful: Merab closing the space against a slick striker, and O’Malley’s wrestling defence against a completely different challenge to the one Aljamain Sterling showcased last year.
Picture source: Getty Images, quotes via mmajunkie
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