Media Cory Sandhagen ACCEPTS Fight Against Umar Nurmagomedov For International Fight Week

[AZZA B]

I got Sandhagen in this fight, Umar wasn’t overly impressive on the weekend.

 

[RockyLockridge]

sandhagen is right and if he does win there should be nothing but a title shot ahead for him

 

[markys00]

Won't happen

Also lol at #1 contender spot. When the hell has UFC ever made a fight like that? I can maybe think of 3, and one of those never lead to a title shot

 

[The Siege]

Sandhagen is the man. I love his striking style and he's generally a good dude from what I've seen.

Taking a hard fight when he is pretty close to a TS is commendable. The benefits of beating a guy with a well known name like Umar are definitely there, but I think he can take any other fight and still get a TS. So, props to Cory.

 

[Black9]

Can you name one time sandhagen has been held down though? The main issue he has is giving his back to escape, but he fights the hooks generally very well. The only person who made sandhagen pay for his scramble heavy approach, is sterling, and sterling is one of the best back takers in the game, significantly better than umar in that regard. Sandhagen has also worked a ton on his wrestling since then. Umar was falling of Bezkat's back, so I doubt he'll be as big of a threat there as sterling was, especially against an improved sandhagen.

He's more likely to get controlled on the cage than the mat, statistically.

This is mostly true, however he's never faced a Dagestani type wrestler. That imitates the Khabib style where they use alot of hand trapping, leg tying, and so forth.

I'm sure Umar isn't going to even attempt to stand with him. It'll be a push him to the cage and pull him to the ground type fight or Cory pieces him up the entire fight.

 

[Tweak896]

Glad one person steps up, because without Sandhagen, everyone on this forum would talk about "Umar earning a title shot" even if fighters in the background all reject the fight. I think Umar beats the top 5, Merab fight could be interesting. It's basically a guaranteed loss I think.

 

[HuskySamoan]

Can you name one time sandhagen has been held down though? The main issue he has is giving his back to escape, but he fights the hooks generally very well. The only person who made sandhagen pay for his scramble heavy approach, is sterling, and sterling is one of the best back takers in the game, significantly better than umar in that regard. Sandhagen has also worked a ton on his wrestling since then. Umar was falling of Bezkat's back, so I doubt he'll be as big of a threat there as sterling was, especially against an improved sandhagen.

He's more likely to get controlled on the cage than the mat, statistically.

Who has Sandhagen fought that's actually good at holding guys down? Aljo for sure but besides that I'm not sure, Umar has great control and a heavy top game.

 

[MrBlackheart]

Nothing against Umar but i hope Sandhagen send his head to the sun with a flying knee

It’s nice to have dreams, kids.

 

[VinceArch]

Awesome fight!

 

[fortheo]

Who has Sandhagen fought that's actually good at holding guys down? Aljo for sure but besides that I'm not sure, Umar has great control and a heavy top game.

Umar is good doing that against lower level guys. TJ, Assunção, alcantra, and even bautista are all respectable grapplers, assunçao and tj especially have above average grappling and they didn't get much control time on Sandhagen at all (on the mat), they were older, though, but that was also a much younger cory.

That's what makes this fight so interesting for me. Neither guy has really faced someone like the other.

 

[HuskySamoan]

Umar is good doing that against lower level guys. TJ, Assunção, alcantra, and even bautista are all respectable grapplers, assunçao and tj especially have above average grappling and they didn't get much control time on Sandhagen at all (on the mat), they were older, though, but that was also a much younger cory.

That's what makes this fight so interesting for me. Neither guy has really faced someone like the other.

TJ was never a top control guy, athletic wrestler but no real top control or strong grappling and he's a small 135er compa4ed to Umar. Bautista isn't exactly anywhere near Aljo level in this regard either. Assuncao is so-so. I was just curious, the Bautista win aged well for sure. I hope this fight happens and I hope my hunch is wrong, but I think Cory gets taken down and rode like a horse.

 

[fortheo]

TJ was never a top control guy, athletic wrestler but no real top control or strong grappling and he's a small 135er compa4ed to Umar. Bautista isn't exactly anywhere near Aljo level in this regard either. Assuncao is so-so. I was just curious, the Bautista win aged well for sure. I hope this fight happens and I hope my hunch is wrong, but I think Cory gets taken down and rode like a horse.

I don't think umar is Aljo's level of grappler. Wrestler, sure, but not grappler. Aljo wouldn't have been falling off bezkat multiple times like that in my opinion, and he wouldn't do nothing on top of Mannes for 15 minutes struggling to pass guard. I don't think Umar has faced anyone with a grappling game remotely similar to Cory's, and vice versa is true, as you're pointing out. I don't really know who I'm favoring and I don't know what to expect because their styles are so different, which is why I want to see it.

 

[fortheo]

This is mostly true, however he's never faced a Dagestani type wrestler. That imitates the Khabib style where they use alot of hand trapping, leg tying, and so forth.

I'm sure Umar isn't going to even attempt to stand with him. It'll be a push him to the cage and pull him to the ground type fight or Cory pieces him up the entire fight.

And umar has never fought someone like cory. I don't think he'll have as much success as people think controlling cory on the mat, at least not early while cory has energy to scramble and use leg locks to create space and get back up to his feet. Cory has a lot of tools on the mat and doesn't stop moving. As the fight progesses and cory fatigues, though, I do see umar getting more and more control tie.

 

[roganisonly5foot3]

let’s go Cory

 

[xhaydenx]

With his no top 15 ranked wins, Umar doesn't deserve this at all lol, so I hope Cory whoops him.

 

[TempleoftheDog]

sandhagen is right and if he does win there should be nothing but a title shot ahead for him

After Merab, of course.

Huge respect to Cory.

 

[BowserJr]

Respect for accepting this but its kinda dumb of him to. He just dominated the guy that just challenged for the belt.

Merab is probably ahead of him but that's it.

Umar is a very dangerous opponent. I could see Umar beating him and then that's it he'll never get a shot again

 

[Oscar Madison]

Cory -- paying his dues for Dana walking out of his last fight.

 

[BowserJr]

Cory -- paying his dues for Dana walking out of his last fight.

I guess so which is annoying cuz Cory v Sean would be a great fight!