Cory Sandhagen eyes a potential showdown with Merab Dvalishvili while waiting for the bantamweight championship fight between Aljamain Sterling and Henry Cejudo.
Cory Sandhagen was well aware that a victory over Marlon Vera at UFC San Antonio would put him in an advantageous position in the bantamweight title picture. However, even after a convincing win over Vera on Saturday night, Sandhagen still has to wait for the upcoming championship fight between reigning bantamweight king, Aljamain Sterling, and Henry Cejudo at UFC 288. Meanwhile, Sean O’Malley currently waits in the wings as the likely next No. 1 contender.
Before his bout, Sandhagen actually intended to call out O’Malley, believing that the former Contender Series winner had more to prove before fighting for UFC gold. In the aftermath of his win, Sandhagen shifted his focus to Dvalishvili, who had recently dominated Petr Yan in a five-round fight. Sandhagen explained his decision on The MMA Hour, stating, “My values in martial arts is me being the best martial artist that I can. If that means having a longer path and a tougher path to being a world champion, then that’s the consequence that I’m prepared to deal with. I’m not doing this whole ‘let me try to find out the easiest path to the top of the mountain’ thing.”
O’Malley appeared to have secured the next title shot following his close split decision win over Yan in October. However, Dvalishvili’s lopsided victory over Yan has complicated matters. The Georgian bantamweight has made it clear that he will not fight Sterling, a longtime friend and training partner, so O’Malley remains in the driver’s seat for the next title shot. Sandhagen believes his showdown with Dvalishvili is inevitable, saying, “I don’t really know why it wouldn’t [happen]. I don’t know who else Merab really has to fight. Because both Cejudo and Sterling seem to be chomping at the bit to fight O’Malley versus definitely me or definitely Merab.”
In terms of timing, Sandhagen wants his next fight to take place before September when his wedding is scheduled. Although his fiancée is understanding about his sporadic fight schedule, the 30-year-old fighter from Colorado wants to focus on their nuptials without the additional stress of an upcoming bout. Sandhagen said, “It’s going to have to happen before the wedding if I’m going to fight. Erica made that very clear… I’m going to really try to do her a favor and make it before the wedding so she doesn’t have to stress out about me having a fight… [I can fight] all the way up to the date [in September]. It would be better than having me be in a training camp for the wedding.”