Petr Yan is still trying to call the shots of the bantamweight title picture, whether Cory Sandhagen likes it or not. T.J. Dillashaw has made it widely known that he would like for his comeback fight to be for the world title. The thing is, he is comi…
Petr Yan is still trying to call the shots of the bantamweight title picture, whether Cory Sandhagen likes it or not. T.J. Dillashaw has made it widely known that he would like for his comeback fight to be for the world title. The thing is, he is coming off a two-year suspension from doping, so […]
He may have a title defense coming up this weekend, but Petr Yan is already looking towards the future. The bantamweight champion defends his title for the first time against Aljamain Sterling at UFC 259. At 7-0, Yan has yet to taste defeat in the UFC and expects that to continue this Saturday. In a […]
He may have a title defense coming up this weekend, but Petr Yan is already looking towards the future.
The bantamweight champion defends his title for the first time against Aljamain Sterling at UFC 259. At 7-0, Yan has yet to taste defeat in the UFC and expects that to continue this Saturday. In a recent interview with Fanatics View, while he made sure to not overlook Sterling, he said he already has eyes on what’s next for him (H/T MMA Mania).
“If I win easy over Sterling, next fight has to be very big. Sandhagen, he lost to Sterling. I think maybe Dillashaw,” Yan said. “T.J. Dillashaw is back after doping tests and I want to fight him.”
Sandhagen has staked his claim to be the next title challenger following back-to-back knockouts over Marlon Moraes and Frankie Edgar, running his UFC record to 7-1. He has also been a vocal critic of Dillashaw getting a title shot upon his return, saying that decision would be “garbage”.
Dillashaw has recently been cleared to compete again following a two-year suspension from USADA for a failed drug test. Prior to his suspension, Dillashaw was the reigning bantamweight champion after winning and defending the title in a pair of fights against Cody Garbrandt. He has been adamant that he is worthy of an immediate title shot upon his return, but the UFC has yet to say what will happen after UFC 259.
Of course, before any future matchmaking can take place, Yan first has to get past a worthy challenger in Sterling. ‘The Funkmaster has won five in a row, including wins over Jimmie River and Pedro Munhoz, as well as dominating Sandhagen in fewer than 90 seconds. His unique style of wrestling and grappling has given his past opponents fits, and he believes Yan will be no different.
Do you think Petr Yan is overlooking Sterling? Who should he fight next if he wins?
Cory Sandhagen is having a hard time watching Petr Yan attempt to dictate the bantamweight pecking order considering his relatively easy path to the title. Petr Yan experienced a very swift rise to the top of the UFC’s bantamweight division, with the R…
Cory Sandhagen is having a hard time watching Petr Yan attempt to dictate the bantamweight pecking order considering his relatively easy path to the title. Petr Yan experienced a very swift rise to the top of the UFC’s bantamweight division, with the Russian capturing the title in about two years’ time. Yan was able to […]
Former two-division UFC champion and Olympic gold medalist Henry Cejudo recently talked about top bantamweight contender Cory Sandhagen who he holds in very high regard. Speaking to The Schmo, Cejudo said he was very impressed with Sandhagen, “He’s probably in my opinion, probably the best 135 pounds other than me, but he just had to […]
Former two-division UFC champion and Olympic gold medalist Henry Cejudo recently talked about top bantamweight contender Cory Sandhagen who he holds in very high regard.
Speaking to The Schmo, Cejudo said he was very impressed with Sandhagen, “He’s probably in my opinion, probably the best 135 pounds other than me, but he just had to learn how to bring the fight to Sandhagen. He’s got to bring the fight that said you cannot give that kid space. He’s extremely dangerous.”
“He’s got talent, but if you don’t bring the fight, he’s gonna get you because the one thing that he does know very well and that’s distance and his composure, which is you know, which is the things that I look at when I watch a fighter.” (Transcribed by Essentially Sports)
This is of course all coming after Sandhagen provided the best performance of his career recently as he knocked out Frankie Edgar with a spectacular flying knee in 28 seconds.
While Cejudo remains retired, he has been continuously training and it seems one day he’ll return to the sport where he has claimed first ballot hall of fame status. The man who never lost his 2 belts can return when and if he wants, and will be welcomed back with a slew of potential high level matchups.
Who would you like to see Henry Cejudo fight in his return to the Octagon? How do you see a Cejudo-Sandhagen fight playing out?
Fresh off the back of a stunning, flying knee knockout of former UFC lightweight champion, Frankie Edgar, Cory Sandhagan has claimed that former two-time bantamweight titleholder, T.J. Dillashaw doesn’t want to fight him, but still remains timorous that the Californian will leapfrog him and fight for the championship next. Taking co-main event honours at UFC […]
Fresh off the back of a stunning, flying knee knockout of former UFC lightweight champion, Frankie Edgar, Cory Sandhagan has claimed that former two-time bantamweight titleholder, T.J. Dillashaw doesn’t want to fight him, but still remains timorous that the Californian will leapfrog him and fight for the championship next.
Taking co-main event honours at UFC Vegas 18 last weekend at the UFC Apex facility in Las Vegas, Nevada, Sandhagen blasted through the number-four ranked Edgar with a brutal flying knee stoppage just twenty-eight seconds into the opening round — surely stamping his status at the next title challenger behind incoming chaser, Aljamain Sterling.
Extending his winning-run to two-fights with a pair of stunning knockout wins over one-time title challenger, Marlon Moraes and the above mentioned, Edgar, Sandhagen claimed it would be “garbage“ if Dillashaw made his return from a two-year USADA suspension and fought for the title before he did.
Hoping to clash with either Yan or Sterling for the undisputed championship next, Sandhagen has stated that would be willing to meet with Dillashaw to further cement his status as the number-one contender to the title at bantamweight, however, claimed the Angels Camp native has no interest in standing across from him.
“I called out T.J. (Dillashaw) and Frankie (Edgar), right?” Sandhagen replied when asked by ESPN MMA reporter, Ariel Helwani if his fight with Edgar made sense given his upward trajectory. “I would’ve prefered to fight T.J. — I can’t really think of any reason in my head why it wasn’t T.J. that was in that cage with me last weekend instead of Frankie, other than T.J.’s just trying to get an easy shot at the title just ’cause he’s a big name and this famous dude.“
“I don’t know why that wasn’t T.J.,” Sandhagen said. “So it was either T.J. or Frankie — T.J. probably said no, so it ended up being Frankie.“
Sandhagen continued and explained how off the back of his devastating stoppage of Edgar, he believes Dillashaw would still reject a matchup with him if the UFC attempted to book them together.
“Yeah, I do, that’s probably what happened,” Sandhagen said. “If you look at his social media, it’s all road to recovery stuff, ‘Oh the comeback’ and blah blah blah. The guy was supposed to be back in January — the time would’ve been perfect for us to fight. And he didn’t. So I don’t know what that’s about — I don’t think he wants to fight.“
“I’m worried that T.J.’s gonna fight for the belt before me, and still not want the fight,” Sandhagen said. “And then me (sic) be stuck in this limbo thing because T.J.’s a bigger name and maybe he gets to call the shots a little bit more, I don’t know. That’s more of what I’m worried about, I don’t think T.J. wants to fight me.“
Completing his two-year retroactive suspension on January 19th. — USADA notified Dillashaw of a potential anti-doping policy violation following his January 2019 knockout loss to Henry Cejudo at UFC Fight Night Brooklyn, after one of his in-competition test samples returned a positive test for the banned substance, EPO (erythropoietin).
Dillashaw is currently free to return to active competition and continue his professional mixed martial arts career, however, an opponent for his Octagon return has yet to be nailed down, with the Bang Muay Thai trainee consistently claiming the bantamweight championship belongs to him still, while the UFC also fail to rule him from an immediate title shot upon his return.
Cory Sandhagen is only preparing to face the winner of Petr Yan and Aljamain Sterling next. Sandhagen earned arguably the biggest win of his career after knocking Frankie Edgar out in the first round of their UFC Vegas 18 co-main event clash with a flying knee. It put him on a two-fight winning streak with […]
Cory Sandhagen is only preparing to face the winner of Petr Yan and Aljamain Sterling next.
Sandhagen earned arguably the biggest win of his career after knocking Frankie Edgar out in the first round of their UFC Vegas 18 co-main event clash with a flying knee.
It put him on a two-fight winning streak with seven wins in his last eight outings overall as he is more than likely to challenge for the title next.
That’s what he’s planning even with former champion TJ Dillashaw now eligible to compete.
“I’m a different monster than before I fought Aljamain Sterling,” Sandhagen said (via MMA Fighting). “He taught me some lessons. I know [Petr] Yan has been talking about fighting T.J. [Dillashaw] after [he fights Aljamain Sterling at UFC 259], and that’s if he even wins that fight. That’s garbage to me.
“Fight me, I’m the toughest guy next to Aljamain. If Aljamain wins, I owe him a nap. He’s gonna get that nap. The winner of those two gets knocked out by me in July.”
When asked to predict who comes out on top at UFC 259, Sandhagen edged towards Sterling which would be ideal for him as he gets to challenge for the title and get revenge in the process.
“Win the belt in July – defend it by the end of the year,” Sandhagen added.
As for his knockout over Edgar? Sandhagen’s height and reach advantages certainly help when it comes to landing those spectacular shots.
“I let him get a little closer,” Sandhagen explained. “I’m longer and I know that I appear long so I can kind of corral these guys into my range without them even knowing. Most of the time they’re in the range where I can hit them and sometimes I do.
“I just corral them into a range where I was able to hit him and he didn’t know that. He was just inches away from getting finished and then I just jumped.”
Should Sandhagen fight for the title? Or Dillashaw?
He may have a title defense coming up this weekend, but Petr Yan is already looking towards the future. The bantamweight champion defends his title for the first time against Aljamain Sterling at UFC 259. At 7-0, Yan has yet to taste defeat in the UFC and expects that to continue this Saturday. In a […]
Former two-division UFC champion and Olympic gold medalist Henry Cejudo recently talked about top bantamweight contender Cory Sandhagen who he holds in very high regard. Speaking to The Schmo, Cejudo said he was very impressed with Sandhagen, “He’s probably in my opinion, probably the best 135 pounds other than me, but he just had to […]
Fresh off the back of a stunning, flying knee knockout of former UFC lightweight champion, Frankie Edgar, Cory Sandhagan has claimed that former two-time bantamweight titleholder, T.J. Dillashaw doesn’t want to fight him, but still remains timorous that the Californian will leapfrog him and fight for the championship next. Taking co-main event honours at UFC […]
Cory Sandhagen is only preparing to face the winner of Petr Yan and Aljamain Sterling next. Sandhagen earned arguably the biggest win of his career after knocking Frankie Edgar out in the first round of their UFC Vegas 18 co-main event clash with a flying knee. It put him on a two-fight winning streak with […]