Cory Sandhagen thinks Sean O’Malley is stalling.
Since coming up short against Umar Nurmagomedov in August, ‘Sandman’ has been looking to get right back into the swing of things. Unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of interesting fights to be had for the bantamweight division’s fourth-ranked contender.
During a recent interview with The Schmo, Sandhagen suggested that a long-awaited clash between himself and former 135-pound titleholder Sean O’Malley is the fight to make, but he’s not all that interested in waiting a year for ‘Sugar’ to lick his wounds and get back to work.
Cory Sandhagen wants to fight Sean O'Malley in March/April and doesn't know "why he wants such a long layoff"
"There's no question man. That's the only fight in the division that's like the most exciting fight."
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“I told the UFC I wanted to come back in December, but there is no one to fight. [The UFC] are doing Figgy and Yan right now so those two guys are off the table now. I wouldn’t wait till July, I don’t know why he wants such a long lay-off, but that’s what happens when you have your first loss…
“They should do me and O’Malley in April or March for a big, big main event somewhere.”
Cory Sandhagen calls for O’Malley to ‘Quit Acting like a troll’
With fellow top-fivers Deiveson Figueiredo and Petr Yan scheduled for a scrap in November, O’Malley vs. Sandhagen makes a lot of sense, though it’s possible that O’Malley could walk straight into a rematch once he returns from surgery to repair a torn labrum.
If not, ‘Sandman’ wants O’Malley to stop ducking him and sign on the dotted line.
“Me and O’Malley is like the biggest fight you can make in the division outside of the title fight. Maybe even [the biggest] in the UFC that’s one of the best fights that the UFC can make. O’Malley I wish would just quit acting like a troll like he won the last fight, he got dominated… and fight me! What are you doing?”