Faced with snapping a run of back-to-back losses in his return to the Octagon this weekend, bantamweight contender, Cory Sandhagen looks set to enter his UFC Vegas 60 main event slot against the surging, Song Yadong as a clear betting favorite, at least.
Sandhagen, the current #4 ranked bantamweight contender, has yet to feature since October of last year, where he replaced former foe and current champion, Aljamain Sterling – clashing with former champion, Petr Yan.
Drawing the Dudinka native on short notice, Cory Sandhagen started brightly against the Russian on ‘Fight Island’, however, Yan eventually pushed the pace beyond a manageable level for the Colorado native, before running out with an impressive unanimous decision win.
The loss came off the back of another judging defeat, this time a much closer loss against former two-time champion and incoming title chaser, T.J. Dillashaw back in July of last year at the UFC Apex facility.
Credited as the new instalment of blood in the division, Cory Sandhagen, a dynamic striker to say the least, with tricky movement as well as wily grappling, had rode an impressive run of two victories into his fight with Dillashaw – stopping both Marlon Moraes and former lightweight champion, Frankie Edgar with blistering knockouts.
14-4 as a professional, Sandhagen stopped Edgar with a flying knee win, before securing a wheel kick stoppage win over Brazilian veteran, Moraes.
As for Yadong, the division upstart, who turns just 25 years old at the end of this year, has managed to embark on an impressive string of three consecutive victories recently – enjoying a certain purple patch at 135lbs to land himself at #10 in the official division pile.
In his most high-profile victory of his Octagon tenure to date, Yadong, a native of Harbin, stopped common-opponent, Moraes with a thunderous knockout of his own back in March of this year at UFC Vegas 50. The win secured Yadong a Performance of the Night bonus to boot.
Cory Sandhagen closing as clear betting favorite ahead of UFC Vegas 60
Ahead of his first headlining matchup under the banner of the UFC this Saturday in ‘Sin City’, Yadong enters his massive bout against Sandhagen as a significant betting underdog. According to Betting Insider Journal, Eliot Marshall trainee, Sandhagen is available as a -210 betting favorite against Yadong, who is closing toward a +175 underdog, as the two prepare to share the Octagon.
A hugely dynamic and explosive striker, Cory Sandhagen, who also currently holds a split decision win over current ONE Championship bantamweight best, John Lineker, has only suffered another Octagon defeat against the aforenoted division kingpin, Sterling, ahead of his highlight-reel knockouts of Moraes and Edgar.
Debuting in the UFC in November 2017, amongst his other impressive Octagon victories, Yadong holds a rather contentious unanimous decision win over the surging, Marlon Vera – who recently took out former two-time bantamweight best, Dominick Cruz with a stunning high kick in San Diego last month.
Cory Sandhagen has entered the Octagon as a betting favorite in eight of his walks under the promotion’s banner, including his eventual loss against Dillashaw, as well as an underdog in his split judging success against Lineker to boot.