Cory Sandhagen is finally headed back to the Octagon.
After coming up short against No. 2 ranked contender Umar Nurmagomedov over the summer, ‘Sandman’ is planning a return to action this March, though the details of who he’ll be facing remain scarce. During a recent MiddleEasy exclusive interview with James Lynch, Sandhagen confirmed that he and the UFC are targeting his next fight for the first quarter of 2025, though he couldn’t offer much else in the way of info on the scrap i.e. the exact date or who will be standing across from him.
“I’m open, but they still haven’t told me yet,” Sandhagen said. “I’ve never fought on a pay-per-view. I think maybe my last four fights have all been main events, but I’m hoping to fight on that pay-per-view [in March] so I guess we’ll see. I like being in the main event, but five-round fights are a lot harder to get ready for than three-round fights. I’ll take whatever they give me.
“I just want to get back in it and start fighting again because, for a stretch there, there wasn’t anyone to fight. Now a few guys are freed up so I’m hoping to get one of those guys and get back in the win column — maybe have a fight against [Sean] O’Malley in the summertime depending on what they’re doing with him and hopefully fight for the belt at the end of the year.”
Originally, Sandhagen hoped to fight again before the end of 2024, but with much of the bantamweight division already booked through December, he was forced to sit on the sidelines until the UFC finally got tired of fielding his phone calls.
“I’ve been complaining about not having a fight for a long time so I think they’re getting sick of me complaining so they’re gonna try to get me a fight someone in March,” Sandhagen added.
One opponent Sandhagen would love to meet in March is former 135-pound titleholder Petr Yan. The two previously met in October 2021 when ‘No Mercy’ saw his hand raised via unanimous decision. Having gone into the contest on short notice, ‘Sandman’ would love the chance to run it back backed by a full camp.
“I would love to fight Yan again,” Sandhagen said. “That’s definitely one — me and Yan are both fairly young in the sport and I don’t really see either one of us going anywhere outside the top five anytime soon so Yan will be one I’d like to get back. Yan was the one I was really trying to push for and who knows, maybe it still will be Yan.
“I would like to have a full camp for Yan and I would like to fight someone I’m a really big fan of and see who’s made the most improvements over the last couple of years. That would be a nice little experiment to see how good I’ve gotten.”
Cory Sandhagen Slams Merab Dvalishvili and Henry Cejudo
While Cory Sandhagen works his way back up the rankings, his last opponent — Umar Nurmagomedov — will score his first UFC title opportunity on January 18 when he meets reigning bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 311 in Los Angeles.
Asked who he sees coming out on top in Dvalishvili’s first title defense, Sandhagen said:
“I think that Umar will win. I just can’t see a path for Merab to win. I don’t think that he’s going to be able to strike with him, but I also don’t think he’ll be able to take him down and control him like he was able to do against O’Malley and against other guys.
“I don’t see a path to success for Merab. I think Umar is going to defend those shots, keep it in the striking realm, and just kind of — Umar’s a sniper, man. People don’t realize just how fast that guy is and how his kicks come out of nowhere. Fighting a guy like Merab will be a good opportunity for him to show off a little and just because Merab’s been talking a lot of sh*t, I kinda want to watch Merab get served up a little bit.”
In the months leading up to their scrap, Dvalishvili has remained adamant that Nurmagomedov does not deserve a title opportunity — noting how the Dagestani has only one win against a ranked contender in the bantamweight division, that being Cory Sandhagen.
Dvalishvili’s incessant whining has lost him a lot of favor with fight fans over the last few months and has many of them clamoring for Nurmagomedov to cut his title reign short in The City of Angels.
“Merab is just acting a little ridiculous,” Sandhagen said. “Here’s what I believe the fans are like: there’s obviously a lot of different types of fans, but I think what the fans want us to be the most are fearless competitors who are not afraid to go out and fight and put their lives on the line and whoever it is in front of them, they believe that they can win.
“That’s what the fans deep down in their heart. They want to be inspired. There’s nothing inspiring about being like, ‘No, I don’t want to fight this guy for this reason,’ or ‘I want this guy because I already beat this guy.’ People are not stupid. They pick up on those things and that’s just my personal belief. Fans want people who are going to go out, fight like hell, be entertaining, and they want them to be fearless and inspiring.”
Another name Sandhagen is not overly fond of in the bantamweight division is Henry Cejudo. Asked whether or not he thinks ‘Triple C’ will ever fight again after back-to-back losses, ‘Sandman’ refused to even talk about the former champ-champ.
“I hate commenting on Henry because the guy just says whatever is just going to get him attention on the day and I don’t really believe anything that guy says,” Sandhagen said.
Watch the full exclusive interview below:
