Cory Sandhagen reveals conditions to rebook Umar Nurmagomedov bout during International Fight Week
Cory Sandhagen was set to face Umar Nurmagomedov at UFC on ESPN 50 last August. However, 'Young Eagle' was forced to pull out from the bout after suffering a shoulder injury. 'The Sandman' faced Rob Font in his place, winning the bout via unanimous decision to extend his winning streak to three and move closer towards the first undisputed bantamweight title opportunity of his UFC career.
The No.3-ranked bantamweight recently revealed the conditions it would take for him to face Nurmagomedov. Speaking to Din Thomas and Anthony Smith of Sirius XM's MMA Today, Sandhagen discussed turning down the bout, responding:
"It wasn't necessarily a no as much as it was like, 'Hey, give me some time to think about it' because it does feel like I would maybe be a little slighted in that situation. Only because I felt like I was now one fight ahead of fighting him. If you're paired up to fight someone and one guy pulls out, and then you win your fight, you're kind of ahead, in my opinion, right? So that was kind of that."
Sandhagen noted that if the fight is for a title opportunity, things could be different. Otherwise, he believes that rankings matter. He added:
"Where I stand with Umar now is if he gets a good win on March 2nd, and he looks good, and he does awesome, and they don't give me the title shot next, do me and Umar at International Fight Week. Obviously there's a lot of things that need to have happened before that happens, but I'm still open to Umar. I just felt like I was one fight ahead of him, and now that he has the opportunity to not make that the case, then I'm definitely back open to it."
Check out Cory Sandhagen's comments on facing Umar Nurmagomedov below:
Sandhagen has not competed since his dominant performance against Font, where he tore his right triceps in the first round of the bout. Meanwhile, Nurmagomedov will make his return to the octagon after more than a year of inactivity when he faces promotional newcomer Bekzat Almakhan at UFC Fight Night 238.
Cory Sandhagen makes his case for fighting for the title
Cory Sandhagen is seemingly closing in on a bantamweight title opportunity. 'The Sandman' made his case to face the winner of the UFC 299 title bout between Sean O'Malley and Marlon 'Chito' Vera during a recent appearance on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, stating:
"I beat 'Chito' less than 365 days ago. Me and O'Malley is definitely one of the most exciting fights that you can certainly make - maybe in the UFC - you know, like in the top-five, top-ten, the most exciting matchups that could potentially happen."
Check out Cory Sandhagen's comments on facing the winner of Sean O'Malley vs. Marlon 'Chito' Vera below:
While Sandhagen appears to be close to a title opportunity, he may not be next in line. Following his dominant performance at UFC 298, Dana White revealed that Merab Dvalishvili is next in line to fight for a title.