Cory Sandhagen confirms he won't fight Aljamain Sterling at UFC San Diego

Cory Sandhagen's return to the Octagon has to wait longer due to the coronavirus pandemic. Several opponents and dates for his return got canceled recently but the fighter had no clue that a pandemic would be the reason for him to have to wait longer before getting to step inside the cage.

Sandhagen was supposed to fight Aljamain Sterling at UFC San Diego on May 16 but once the news broke on social media, Sterling himself came out stating that he hasn't been training due to the lockdown in New York, and therefore, will not be competing on the San Diego card.

Speaking to MMA Fighting, Sandhagen said both Sterling and him were very excited to go up against each other but due to the pandemic, it won't work out on the scheduled date. He said he is not disheartened by that because everyone is going through the same thing right now.

“I know Aljamain was excited to fight me, I know I was excited to fight him. It’s not going to be at the date I want it to but then again everyone is going through this. The entire world is going through this so everything is just being pushed back. It doesn’t really bother me that it’s not going to be on May 16.”

Originally, Sandhagen was supposed to fight MMA veteran Frankie Edgar but that fight fell through because Edgar took up a short notice clash against 'The Korean Zombie' Chan Sung Jung in South Korea. Following that, he was offered a fight against former bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz who is looking to return to the Octagon for the first time post-2016, but that fight too didn't work out because Cruz apparently wasn't ready in time.

Sandhagen believes he will face Sterling in the near future but definitely not at San Diego in May.