The UFC returned to Nashville, Tennessee, on Saturday night as Cory Sandhagen faced Rob Font in the main event of the UFC Fight Night card. Font was a last-minute replacement for Umar Nurmagomedov, who was originally slated to fight Cory Sandhagen but had to pull out following an injury. Two days removed from the fight, Sandhagen spoke with Ariel Helwani on the MMA Hour to discuss the weekend’s action.
Cory Sandhagen’s injury
Sandhagen has been dealing with some injury problems himself of late. After getting cellulitis in his elbow, ‘The Sandman’ was prescribed antibiotics during the fight camp, which didn’t resolve his issue the first time around. He then took another cycle which made some improvements, but as seen by a video Sandhagen posted, his left elbow was very red and swollen during the fight preparations.
The crowd in Nashville was rather hostile towards Sandhagen who ended up with a very dominant win over Rob Font. To be fair to Sandhagen, his original opponent, Umar Nurmagomedov is a wrestling specialist; therefore, his preparations leading up to the event in Nashville would have focused on an opponent of this style. Sandhagen could have easily rejected the offer of a new opponent, but he chose to fight, and Rob Font is a tough opponent for anybody, even when they’ve had a full camp to prepare for him, let alone a brief period.
”It felt like there was a golf ball in there or something, and it made me feel a little bit weird because I’ve been dealing with bursitis for a little while now.” Sandhagen then said that along with his elbow, he could feel a strange sensation in his tricep during the fight, particularly in the second round, which led him to take an approach to allow him to be cautious so as not to make his arm any worse.
According to Sandhagen, the fight would have played out differently if he wasn’t struggling with his injury. ”I wouldn’t have been so quick to shoot, I would have gone for a lot more submissions, and I would have opened up with the ground and pound a lot more. I still think the ground control was an amazing thing to watch if you’re, like, super interested in figuring out how to hold people down.”
The fans in Nashville began booing in the second round, and Sandhagen, who is undergoing surgery on his arm this Thursday, understood their frustrations. ‘The Sandman’ said that he realizes the UFC is not just a sport but also the entertainment business. Regardless of his injury, Sandhagen doesn’t have many regrets about how the fight played out as he views his grappling to be far superior to Rob Font’s. He didn’t want to change his game plan to suit his opponent’s style.
Sandhagen wanted to fight Nurmagomedov
Although Sandhagen got his third straight victory on Saturday night in Nashville, he wishes the fight was against his original opponent, Umar Nurmagomedov rather than Rob Font. ‘The Sandman’ wanted to put an end to the myth that Russian and Dagestani fighters were ‘unbeatable.’ Sandhagen believes that any fighter who comes from a respected camp and from a part of the world that has a reputation for developing great fighters can be beaten and believes if anybody can solve a puzzle, it’s him.
Sandhagen’s #4 ranking in the bantamweight division will be safe following the victory over the #7 ranked Font, and he expects to fight Nurmagomedov in the future. Next, though, he wants a shot against the champion – the winner of Aljamain Sterling’s defense against Sean O’Malley at UFC 292 on August 19.
Helwani made a good point in that a lot can happen over a short period of time in MMA. Should Sterling defeat O’Malley, the current champion could move up in weight and vacate the title. Sandhagen seems fine with whoever his next opponent is, as long as it is for the bantamweight strap.
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