Bantamweight top contender Cory Sandhagen had a couple of callouts ready after his win over Song Yadong at UFC Vegas 60, and now it seems he has a decision to make.
UFC Vegas 60 was a golden opportunity for Cory Sandhagen to remind everyone that he’s one of the very best bantamweight fighters in the world, and he took it. The Team Elevation talent put the screws to Song Yadong over four hard rounds, picking up a win via doctor’s stoppage, due to an ever widening cut caused by an early Sandhagen elbow.
After the fight, the 30-year-old jumped on the mic with Daniel Cormier to talk about what he’d like to see in the immediate future.
“One of those guys in October,” Sandhagen said, speaking of the upcoming title fight between TJ Dillashaw and Aljamain Sterling, “or Chito [Vera] & Merab [Dvalishvili] are the top two guys. I don’t want to get left out. Last time I got left out, I had to fight down in the rankings, I want to fight someone at the top.”
“Give me someone for Christmas,” he added.
Well, if social media is anything to go by, it seems as though Sandhagen is going to have options. Dvalishvili took to Twitter shortly after the event to respond to the callout, saying “My answer is yes of course. Let’s go.”
As for Vera, he was actually in the building at the time, and the UFC caught up with him for an immediate response on video.
“If he wants it, he can get it.”@ChitoVeraUFC responds to @CorySandhagen‘s call out #UFCVegas60 pic.twitter.com/1j7h4luDeg
— UFC (@ufc) September 18, 2022
“If he wants it, he can get it,” Vera enthused (transcript via MMA Fighting). “I’m not shying away from any fight. I’m a fighter, I’ll fight anybody, I want to be a world champion. If I want to get there and get the belt, I don’t run away from no one. If he wants it, he can get it—or, I don’t know, whatever the f-ck the UFC wants. I’m ready to go right now.”
Vera is currently coming off a major KO victory over former two-time bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz. That win marked the fourth straight for the Ecuadorian fighter, stretching back to a 2020 loss to former featherweight king Jose Aldo.
Dvalishvili is currently sitting pretty on an eight-fight winning streak after opening his UFC career with a pair of losses to Frankie Saenz and Ricky Simon. Most recently, the Serra-Longo talent picked up a decision victory over Aldo—in his only fight so far in 2022.
Of course, timing is everything if this fight is going to come together for December. There’s no telling what may happen with any of these three men in the coming weeks, and social media is hardly a binding contract. But for now, with both top contenders interested, it seems very likely that Santa will be bringing Cory Sandhagen exactly what he wants this Christmas.