Former interim bantamweight title challenger, Cory Sandhagen has revealed a hilarious reason for accepting a fight with the undefeated, Umar Nurmagomedov – atop an upcoming UFC Fight Night Nashville card in August.
Sandhagen, the current #4 ranked division contender, is slated to headline his second consecutive event of this year, having most recently taken main event status at UFC Fight Night San Antonio back in March – defeating Ecuadorian fan-favorite, Marlon Vera in a split decision win.
The victory came as the Elevation Fight Team staple’s second successively to boot, having previously stopped Song Yadong with an eventual fourth round doctor’s stoppage in a headliner at the UFC Apex facility last year.
Cory Sandhagen reveals reasoning for accepting Umar Nurmagomedov fight
And now slated to return against the undefeated, Nurmagomedov, who has so far found opponents hard to come by during his five-fight Octagon tenure, Sandhagen, who puts his status as a top contender on the line against the Russian in Tennessee this summer, gave a rib-tickling reason for taking the bout.
“Hey, I know you guys saw the announcement,” Cory Sandhagen said in a video posted on his official social media. “I’m fighting August 5. against Umar Nurmagomedov. I’m getting a lot of haters, saying, ‘Why would you fight this far down in the rankings?’ He’s going to beat my ass, blah, blah, blah. Two reasons; one, Umar is a great fighter, and I’m not trying to be world champion if I’m not the actual best in the entire world. So fighting Umar is a great challenge and I accept it.”
“And number one;” Cory Sandhagen continued. “Because I’m a beast, b*tch. That’s why. Peace, I’ll see you guys in Nashville.”
Fighting for a potential slot in the top-5 of the bantamweight ranks, Nurmagomedov, the cousin of former undisputed UFC lightweight champion, Khabib Nurmagomedov – has landed a stunning 16-0 professional record throughout his career.
Most recently featuring back in January of this year in ‘Sin City’, Nurmagomedov stopped the highly-touted Brazilian veteran, Raoni Barcelos with a blistering body kick KO win.