"Not going to think too far into it" - Cory Sandhagen set to be out for 6-8 months after tricep tear surgery
Right now, there are few hotter fighters in the UFC’s bantamweight division than Cory Sandhagen.
The No.4 ranked fighter in the division is currently riding a three-fight win streak, having defeated Song Yadong, Marlon Vera and Rob Font.
Under normal circumstances, Cory Sandhagen would probably be targeting a title shot right about now. However, ‘The Sandman’ has now revealed that it’ll be some time before we see him in action again.
In an interview prior to UFC 292 this weekend, Sandhagen explained the issues that are likely to keep him out for a lengthy period.
“If this (his right arm) wasn’t hurt I’d be expecting to fight for a title at the end of the year against whoever it would be against, whether Sterling wins and leaves or whether O’Malley wins and its against him, that would be what I would expect."
"The Sandman" added:
"Now I’m probably about eight months away from getting back into the cage. I’m six months away from being like 100% healthy and eight months from being able to fight so I’m not gonna think too far into it. I think there’s gonna be this one this weekend, one more and maybe December, January and then maybe me, but I don’t know, we’ll see.”
Watch Cory Sandhagen talk about his future below from 5:25 onwards:
For those who are unaware, Sandhagen completely tore his tricep during his most recent fight, a five-round victory over Rob Font earlier this month.
Unsurprisingly, the announcement of this nasty injury garnered plenty of respect and sympathy from UFC fans, who took to social media to praise ‘The Sandman’ for his toughness.
Cory Sandhagen: What did Dana White say to ‘The Sandman’ after his win over Rob Font?
Cory Sandhagen tore his tricep during his recent win over Rob Font, and later received plenty of praise from fans for the toughness he showed during the clash.
Remarkably, the bantamweight contender suffered the injury in the first round of the fight.
Unfortunately, the five-round bout was also largely uneventful and wasn’t met with a strong reaction from the crowd, who seemed frustrated with the lack of action.
Often, UFC President Dana White is amongst those critical fans, but on this occasion, according to Sandhagen, this wasn’t the case.
In a recent interview, he revealed that White was “real nice” about how the fight went after learning of his injury, and simply advised him to heal up.
Watch Cory Sandhagen discuss this below from 5:55 onwards: