Mario Bautista finally got the rematch he had been chasing, and he made it count against Cory Sandhagen on the UFC 329 main card.
Official result: Bautista defeated Sandhagen by unanimous decision, with all three judges scoring it 29-28. The deciding stretch came after Bautista damaged Sandhagen’s leg late in Round 1, kept forcing grappling exchanges in Round 2, then hurt him badly enough in Round 3 to secure the clearest swing round of the fight.
Mario Bautista vs. Cory Sandhagen Round-By-Round
Round 1: Sandhagen opened with movement, stance switches, and sharp kicks. He landed a high kick and a left hand that bothered Bautista, while Bautista answered with leg kicks, hooks, and pressure into the fence. Bautista’s most important moment came late when he got to Sandhagen’s back and attacked the leg before the horn, creating the damage that changed the rest of the fight.
Round 2: Sandhagen came out limping, and Bautista immediately had a target. Sandhagen still landed in boxing exchanges and fought off fence pressure, but his movement was no longer the same. Bautista mixed low kicks, clinch pressure, and takedown attempts, while Sandhagen had to work harder to reset and keep the fight from becoming a grind.
Round 3: Bautista made the final round his best argument. He cracked Sandhagen with a left hand early, sent him down, and followed with punches before Sandhagen scrambled back into the fight. Bautista added another takedown and kept forcing Sandhagen to defend, even after Sandhagen briefly answered with a takedown of his own. When the horn sounded, Bautista had the cleaner late damage and the stronger closing round.
The scorecards all landed at 29-28 for Bautista. With Round 3 carrying the biggest swing and Bautista’s late Round 1 leg attack shaping the next ten minutes, the rematch went the other way from their first meeting.
UFC 329 Bautista vs. Sandhagen Highlights
Settled the score 😤@Bautista_MMA earns the UD victory in the rematch at #UFC329!
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— UFC (@ufc) July 12, 2026
HUGE LEFT HAND IN RD3👀
[ #UFC329 is LIVE NOW on @ParamountPlus ] pic.twitter.com/aKHgfvS2YC
— UFC (@ufc) July 12, 2026
Interesting end to RD1 👀
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— UFC (@ufc) July 12, 2026
Bautista Gets The Rematch Back
This was not just another ranked bantamweight fight for Bautista. Sandhagen submitted him in 2019, in Bautista’s short-notice UFC debut, so the UFC 329 rematch gave Bautista a chance to rewrite the first chapter of their shared history.
Bautista entered the night at 17-3 and one spot behind Sandhagen in the bantamweight picture. The decision moves him to 18-3 and gives him a result he can point to in a crowded division. Sandhagen falls to 18-7, and the loss slows his attempt to rebound after his title-fight setback against Merab Dvalishvili.
The win also gives Bautista another meaningful UFC result after his submission of Vinicius Oliveira and his earlier fight with Umar Nurmagomedov. For more on the matchup before fight night, read MiddleEasy’s exclusive Sandhagen interview before the Bautista rematch.
UFC 329 still had two major target fights behind it, including Paddy Pimblett vs. Benoit Saint Denis and Conor McGregor vs. Max Holloway. Bautista used his main-card slot to leave with the cleaner scoreline and a much better answer to the rematch question, while the same card had already produced Brandon Royval’s late submission win over Lone’er Kavanagh.
