Cory Sandhagen believes he’s the money fight awaiting O’Malley if ‘Suga’ wins at UFC 306. But Team ‘Suga’ has other ideas.
Cory Sandhagen is hoping the stars will align over the next two months in such a way that results in him fighting Sean O’Malley for the bantamweight title.
All that needs to happen is Sandhagen beating the undefeated Umar Nurmagomedov in Abu Dhabi this Saturday. Then O’Malley needs to take out wrestling powerhouse Merab Dvalishvili when they scrap at the Sphere for UFC 306. But on the other side of the equation, O’Malley may be cheering for Umar and not Cory.
“I’m definitely rooting for O’Malley, I think that’s the bigger fight,” Sandhagen told MMA Junkie in a new interview. “That’s a fight that people have been asking for forever. I think that me and him go into a cage and there’s going to be fireworks. It’s going to be so technical, so skilled, super athletic, and that’s what the fans want to see.”
“I’m gonna get myself this win. O’Malley, you go get yourself a win, and we’ll give the fans what they’ve been asking for for years.”
O’Malley’s head coach Tim Welch, thought? In a new video on his YouTube channel, Welch said Nurmagomedov is the money fight.
“Think about it: a Nurmagomedov who’s 18-0 versus Sean?” Welsh said. “That’s probably going to sell.”
“Let’s say Cory or Umar, which one’s going to be a bigger fight? Probably Umar. I mean, how many followers does Umar have on Instagram? Umar’s the man in Russia. Umar’s got 1.5 million, Sean’s got 4.3 million. Let’s see Cory. ‘Sandman’ has 449 [thousand].”
Umar Nurmagomedov can’t understand how Aljamain Sterling lost to Sean O’Malley and believes Merab Dvalishvili will beat him.
“I don’t know what happened. I don’t know how he lost. It’s a big mystical win for me. How, how can it happen”
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Welsh sees Sandhagen as slightly more well rounded than Nurmagomedov, but said he’d expect both to try and take O’Malley down. You’d think “Suga” would be getting sick of fighting grappler after grappler, but his coach said that doesn’t really factor into things.
“He just wants the biggest. Whatever’s going to be the biggest fight,” Welch said. “And Umar Nurmagomedov, 18-0, versus the ‘Suga’ show would be a huge f*ckin’ fight, dude.”