Cory Sandhagen provides round by round breakdown of his UFC Vegas 32 fight against T.J. Dillashaw
Cory Sandhagen lost a razor-thin split decision to TJ Dillashaw at UFC Vegas 32. The MMA community has been divided in its opinion regarding which fighter deserved the nod from the judges.
Speaking to Luke Thomas on Morning Kombat, Cory Sandhagen broke down the fight’s judging and stated:
“Round one, I figured that I lost because, obviously, I spent so much time on my back, even though it wasn’t a ton of time on my back. There was a good amount of time. And like I said, I was chasing submissions. I was trying to finish him with something pretty early. I was able to get him in a heel hook (submission), and that’s what popped his knee. It wasn’t that he got lazy and tweaked his knee, like he said. I got him in a 50-50, put him in a 50-50, and got him in a heel hook, and that’s what hurt his knee. But, I agree, okay, I lost that round.”
Moving on to the rest of the fight, Sandhagen suggested round two was a clear victory for himself, but admitted three and four were the hardest to score.
“Second round, I definitely won. Three and four, to me, were the closest ones. In those rounds, T.J. was definitely being way more of an aggressor. I thought I was keeping myself really safe, and I was landing the cleaner shots even in those rounds. Like I said, I stuffed all of his shots the whole time. If you look at the stats, I think he shot 19 times and only got two of them. And again, the two that he got were not good shots on his part. They were just kind of counters to me. And again, I got right back up. So, three and four, I think, were really close. I think five, I was able to take it; again, just by being cleaner. I think he wasn’t able to do a lot in round five.
Summarizing the fight, Sandhagen mirrored most of the MMA community by saying it essentially came down to how people scored the third and fourth rounds.
“That’s kind of how I have it judged, man. I definitely beat him up really bad in round two. He definitely had more control in round one, even though I popped his knee in round one. Round five, I would give it to me. And then, three and four were very close,” said Cory Sandhagen.
Cory Sandhagen is still a part of the UFC bantamweight title picture
The consensus among the MMA community is that, after a successful return this past weekend, T.J. Dillashaw will face the winner of the championship rematch between Petr Yan and Aljamain STerling, which is expected to take place at UFC 267 in Abu Dhabi.
Meanwhile, Cory Sandhagen is likely to fight a fellow high-ranking UFC bantamweight like Rob Font next. Should Cory Sandhagen win his next fight, he’ll likely receive a shot at the UFC bantamweight title, probably in 2022.
What's your take on Cory Sandhagen's statements? Sound off in the comments.