UFC News: Cory Sandhagen still open to fighting Frankie Edgar but wants to face former Champion as well

Cory Sandhagen wasn't happy about how things turned out with Frankie Edgar replacing Brian Ortega to face "The Korean Zombie" Chan Sung Jung with just over two weeks' notice. Since it's a Featherweight bout, it doesn't do much for Edgar to earn a title shot, whereas beating the #3 ranked Bantamweight would instantly have put him into the mix.

It's safe to assume that Edgar won't exit the fight on December 21st unscathed and Sandhagen expects the same. When talking to MMA Junkie (H/T Bjpenn.com) about a potential fight against Edgar being rescheduled, he said that he's open to it but also wants another top name. He said Aljamain Sterling is out of the question since he's just had surgery:

“In my head, it’s gotta be either Frankie [Edgar] or [Dominick] Cruz. I think that’s what I’ve earned at this point, taking tough fights. So that’s what I feel like I’ve earned. If it’s Frankie at a later date, okay. If it’s Cruz at a later date, okay. It doesn’t matter to me, that’s just what I would like.”

There's no doubt that a fight against Cruz would be a big one. However, Cruz has had issues as he hasn't fought in 3 years now. He's training for a comeback but is injury-prone and there's hardly a guarantee that he'll make it to the fight.

However, it is a fight that makes sense and if Sandhagen were to get a win over Cruz, there's no doubt that he would be the next in line for a UFC Bantamweight Championship fight. Perhaps that's where some of his frustration over the Frankie Edgar situation came from. He said:

“I’m not sure. I just can’t imagine a scenario where Frankie is going to come out (of the Jung fight) unscathed and I don’t want to be holding my breath for that amount of time, so I don’t know. We’ll work it out with the agent, but I don’t know."