Chael Sonnen makes his prediction for T.J. Dillashaw vs. Cory Sandhagen ahead of UFC Vegas 32
Former UFC middleweight and light heavyweight title challenger-turned-media member Chael Sonnen has revealed who he believes will come out on top in this weekend's UFC Vegas 32 main event between Cory Sandhagen and T.J. Dillashaw.
Despite Dillashaw's spell of inactivity due to a two-year suspension for the use of performance enhancing drugs, Sonnen is picking the former champ over the rising contender.
That is not to say that Sonnen is overlooking Sandhagen in this matchup. In his official prediction uploaded to his YouTube channel, he stated that:
"Final predection, T.J. Dillashaw vs Cory Sandhagen. I'm taking Dillashaw and there's a lot on that. There is a lot on that claim because Sandhagen, I was late to the party, Helwani told about this guy all the time. I didn't get it... But I see the skills. The skills are flat incredible. Go see the fight with Frankie Edgar," said Chael Sonnen.
Chael Sonnen believes that Cory Sandhagen has one major weaknesss
Whilst Sandhagen is incredibly skilled, Chael Sonnen has identified one key weakness in his game. That weakness being the ground game of Sandhagen, which has previously been exploited in the UFC by Aljamain Sterling.
"He showed one weakness, which was in the wrestling department. Aljo took him down, dominatated him. Whole match was like forty seconds, forty four seconds, something along these lines. Sandhagen never got a punch off... I then caught an interview from Sandhagen later where he said about his own wrestling, and I qoute, 'my wrestling sucks'... I've gotta take a guy at his word," stated Chael Sonnen.
The issue with this weakness is that Dillashaw, as well as being a talented striker, has a solid wrestling game. Sonnen went on to say the following in regards to Dillashaw's ground game:
"So when you have a T.J. Dillashaw who's very good at wrestling, particularly MMA wrestling," said Chael Sonnen. "That outside trip and some of those set-ups and transitions that Dillashaw does are very unique to him. Even if you go get good at wrestling, you now got a handful dealing with T.J.'s wrestling. So, I lean towards Dillashaw."