Cory Sandhagen always wants the toughest test which is why he is fighting Umar Nurmagomedov in the main event of UFC Nashville on August 5.
Sandhagen hasn’t shied away from any tough fight as he took on Petr Yan on short notice after losing to TJ Dillashaw and after beating Marlon Vera, he will now face Nurmagomedov next. Although Nurmagomedov is ranked well below him, Sandhagen has an interesting reason as to why he took the fight.
“I literally don’t want to be the world champ if I am not the actual best in the world. It’s not a shiny sticker to me and not something I want to cherrypick or navigate the easiest route to,” Sandhagen said to ESPN. “It’s something I want to earn and it’s something I want to actually say I did in the most difficult way. It’s kind of the way I am, I’m not playing for a shiny sticker, I’m playing to be the best.”
‘I think he is the real Deal’
With Cory Sandhagen wanting to prove he is the best bantamweight before he gets the title, he is more than willing to face Umar Nurmagomedov. Although he doesn’t know how good Nurmagomedov really is, he is excited for the challenge.
Yet, Cory Sandhagen does think Nurmagomedov is the real deal and will pose some problems for a lot of the top-ranked bantamweight.
“I think he is really good. When I watch him, personally, I think he is a very, very good fighter. He is a very tricky guy to figure out and people haven’t been able to figure him out, really at all. They are going with approaches that are really silly. I think he is really good, if I’m being really honest, he’d beat ‘Chito,’ I think he would beat a lot of these other guys at the top too,” Sandhagen said about Nurmagomedov. “I think the UFC sees that, I see that, that is definitely a real thing. He definitely comes from a really good camp, he defintely has had good coaches his whole life, he comes from a part of the world that combat sports are giant. Yeah, I think he is the real deal. Has he earned it? I don’t know, maybe but I don’t really care. I see him as a really good fighter and that’s why I want to fight him.”
Should Sandhagen beat Nurmagomedov on August 5, his next fight could very well be for the title.
