This past Saturday night, the UFC hosted their fifth fight night from Fight Island. In the main event of the evening, there was a bantamweight contest between former title challenger Marlon Moraes (23-7-1) and Cory Sandhagen (13-2).
It was a very big fight for the UFC‘s bantamweight division. Moraes was the top ranked contender while Sandhagen came in fourth. Despite being fourth, Sandhagen was actually the betting favorite heading into UFC Fight Island 5.
In the fight, Sandhagen made it apparent why he was the betting favorite. Sandhagen did a fantastic job of striking from the outside and flustering Moraes with his movement. Moraes really just looked like he could never get going on Saturday.
Finally, in the second round, Sandhagen handed a spinning kicked that floored the former UFC title challenger. A few follow up shots after that caused the referee to step in and call a stop to the action. The biggest UFC win so far for Sandhagen.
Who should the UFC pair him with next?
In his post fight interview, Sandhagen had a couple of names that he was interested. TJ Dillashaw and Frankie Edgar were the two names that Sandhagen had in mind when envisioning his next UFC fight. He figured those were the only two ahead of him in the title picture.
Edgar recently made his successful UFC bantamweight debut by defeating Pedro Munhoz. The fight was razor close, but a win put Edgar near the top of the division. Edgar is looking to challenge for a UFC title in the third weight class that he’s competed in.
TJ Dillashaw is able to come back in January after being suspended for two years. The former UFC bantamweight king was known as one of the best fighters in the world a couple of years ago. Dillashaw dropped down to flyweight in his last UFC contest to challenge Henry Cejudo.
Dillashaw lost to Cejudo, but that wasn’t the main story however. He tested positive for EPO and was suspended for two years. He had to relinquish his UFC bantamweight title, but he’s itching to get back into the cage.
Personally, I like either fight for Sandhagen. A win over one of those high profile guys would surely put him in the title picture. Aljamain Sterling and Petr Yan are expecting to fight early next year, but Sandhagen could get a UFC title shot at some point in 2021.