Cory Sandhagen is confident that he has the answer to UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili’s game.
Dvalishvili (19-4 MMA, 12-2 UFC) retained his title when he rallied to defeat Umar Nurmagomedov (18-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC) by unanimous decision this past Saturday at UFC 311 from Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif. Sandhagen is coming off a five-round main event loss to Nurmagomedov at UFC on ABC 7. While he knows he won’t be next in line for a title shot, he likes how he matches up against Dvalishvili.
“Umar’s definitely a really good fighter,” Sandhagen said on his YouTube channel. “He beat me. He’s better than I am stylistically. That being said, styles make fights. If you’re going to be a guy that fights against Merab, you have to have really, really, really good footwork and be able to defend the takedowns in an energy efficient way. Merab has fought O’Malley, beat him pretty decisively. Yan, beat him pretty decisively. Umar, beat him pretty decisively. Those are the three guys that are ahead of me. I should be next in line.”
Even though Sandhagen knows better than to call for the next title shot, that doesn’t mean he isn’t confident that he could be the one to dethrone Dvalishvili.
“I know that that’s kind of a tough sell, so I’m not going to try to sell you guys on that because you guys know I don’t like doing that,” Sandhagen said of a callout. “… I do think that if there is a style that beats Merab, it’s one that can control the space the best. And say whatever you want about my style, what you have to say about it is I probably have the best footwork in the division. If not the best, way, way up there. I hold space, keep space, close it, open it better than anyone else in the division in my opinion. That’s what’s going to beat Merab. So when I get to fight him, I’m really excited to see how that gets to look like.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 311.
