Cory Sandhagen and Rob Font squared off in a Bantamweight contest earlier tonight (Sat., Aug. 5, 2023) at UFC Nashville inside Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. In a surprisingly wrestle-heavy fight, Sandhagen shut out Font.
Sandhagen made his game plan clear just seconds into the first round. Font opened with pressure, but Sandhagen countered with a takedown into top position. Though he had difficulty passing guard, Sandhagen maintained control and chipped away continually for most of the first five minutes.
As it turns out, that was really the fight! It never took Sandhagen more than a couple minutes to score a takedown, either from his back foot or by pressing Font into the fence. Font and the crowd grew increasingly frustrated, but that wasn’t Sandhagen’s problem! “The Sandman” was cruising to a victory, and he wasn’t about to divert from his path and give Font a chance to knock him out if he didn’t have to.
Font didn’t have an answer to Sandhagen’s combination of movement and wrestling, nor could he get off bottom. He offered up a couple submission attempts, but nothing remotely serious.
Ultimately, it was a fairly boring fight between two men who were supposed to fight different opponents. Sandhagen took the safest path to victory and should secure a title shot as a result — can you blame him? Also, he trained for many weeks to fight an elite wrestler, so it shouldn’t be shocking that he entered the cage in a wrestling-focused mindset.
Result: Sandhagen defeats Font via unanimous decision
For complete UFC Nashville: “Sandhagen vs. Font” results and play-by-play, click HERE!