"He could've capitalized" - Aljamain Sterling dismisses Cory Sandhagen's supposed wrestling superiority in 'boring' fight against Rob Font
UFC bantamweight Aljamain Sterling was underwhelmed by Cory Sandhagen's performance in the UFC main event on August 5.
Sterling uploaded a video to his YouTube channel where he shared his thoughts on Sandhagen's performance. According to 'Funk Master', the 31-year-old left a lot to be desired from his performance as 'The Sandman' played it safe and cruised his way to the scorecards.
"I was honestly disappointed with his [Rob Font] lack of ability to get back to his feet. I think he might have gotten up once, maybe twice out of the five or six takedowns that he's given up. That's tough, man. I know it was a short notice thing. Both guys had to make big adjustments but Font, he wanted it. Sandhagen, he wanted it. But the difference is nobody showed that they want the next title shot with a definitive win."
Sterling added:
"The only thing that I will say is, [Sandhagen] had positions where he could have capitalized and done a lot of cool things with the dominant positions that he had and he just kinda chose to stay on top and just coast his way to the finish."
Check out Aljamain Sterling's comments from the 0:50 mark below:
Cory Sandhagen went up against Rob Font in a short-notice five-round catchweight fight (140 pounds) in Nashville, Tennessee. He was originally supposed to fight Umar Nurmagomedov but 'Young Eagle' dropped out of the matchup due to an injury.
Sandhagen used his grappling skills to outperform his opponent for the majority of the fight and scored a dominant unanimous decision victory with 50-45 on all three judges' scorecards.
What happened when Aljamain Sterling and Cory Sandhagen fought in the UFC?
Aljamain Sterling and Cory Sandhagen have a history as the two athletes have locked horns inside the UFC octagon. The two bantamweight fought at UFC 250 in June 2020.
'Funk Master' ran through Sandhagen that night and finished him with a rear-naked choke less than 90 seconds into the fight.
After his win over Rob Font, Sandhagen called for a rematch against Sterling. But 'The Sandman' will likely have to wait as Sterling is scheduled to fight Sean O'Malley for his next title defense at UFC 292.