This past Saturday in the main event of UFC Abu Dhabi, we saw a title eliminator in the bantamweight division. Former interim title challenger and top contender Cory Sandhagen (17-5) was trying to become the first man to defeat the sensational Umar Nurmagomedov (18-0).
I really had a tough time picking this fight just because we hadn’t seen Nurmagomedov tested against someone of the caliber of a Cory Sandhagen. Sandhagen has been in there with the best of the best and while Nurmagomedov had been dominant, we hadn’t seen him against elite competition. Saturday was going to answer a lot of questions.
In the first round, I liked Sandhagen’s ability to land cleaner shots and largely keep things at his distance. That said, everything changed in the second round. Starting in the second round, Nurmagomedov took full control. He was able to land takedowns, get solid control and in the striking, he started getting the better of things.
After the second round, Sandhagen had moments, but it just felt like he was a step behind Nurmagomedov. In the final round, he never was able to rally with anything significant and ultimately lost a very lopsided decision at UFC Abu Dhabi to the still undefeated, Umar Nurmagomedov.
What’s next after UFC Abu Dhabi?
Without a doubt in my mind, Cory Sandhagen is on the short list of the best fighters in the UFC who have not tasted gold. He’s clearly one of the very best in the world, he just hasn’t been able to get over the hump just yet. There is still time and he’s only 32, but he needs to get going if he wants to become a champion.
After winning his first five fights inside the octagon, he was choked out by eventual champ Aljamain Sterling. He then had two huge knockouts in a row leading him to a fight with former champ TJ Dillashaw. It was a razor close fight that many thought Sandhagen won, but he lost a split decision. It was so close that despite losing, Sandhagen got an interim title shot after that against Petr Yan.
He clearly lost the Yan fight. After losing the Yan fight, he won three in a row over Song Yadong, Chito Vera, and Rob Font. During the Font fight, Sandhagen suffered an injury. Had he not suffered that injury, he might’ve earned a UFC title shot. Instead, Chito Vera got a shot against Sean O’Malley and Sandhagen had to fight Nurmagomedov.
So after this loss, what’s next for Sandhagen? Personally, I love the idea of a fight between Sandhagen and Henry Cejudo. The former champ Cejudo has lost two in a row since he came back from retirement. However, the two losses were a narrow split decision loss against Aljamain Sterling in a title fight and a decision loss against Merab Dvalishvili in a title eliminator.
Sandhagen is currently ranked fourth while Cejudo is ranked sixth. Just makes a lot of sense from a rankings perspective with the winner potentially getting right back into the title picture at 135.