Given the recent shakeup at the top of the UFC bantamweight tree, it’s no surprise that multiple top contenders now see a route open to the title – including one of the most popular fighters in the division, Cory ‘The Sandman’ Sandhagen.
In fact, not only has Cory Sandhagen called for a long-awaited fight against now-former champion Sean O’Malley, but he’s also claimed that one of the biggest names at 135lbs has secretly turned down his fight offer behind the scenes.
Cory Sandhagen on fighting Deiveson Figueiredo and Sean O’Malley
Following Merab Dvalishvili’s dominant decision win at The Sphere, Sandhagen took to Instagram to state that “it’s time to give the people what they want,” i.e., an unbelievable striking matchup between him and O’Malley.
Breaking down the UFC 306 main event via his YouTube channel earlier today, Sandhagen offered his congratulations to his new champion before doubling down on his callout of the now-former bantamweight king.
“I thought that it was a really good fight, I thought Merab did exactly what you should do if you are fighting a guy like O’Malley, and you have the skillset that Merab has versus the skillset that O’Malley has.
“Good on Merab, congrats to the new champion and all of that stuff; blah blah blah but, before we get into the breakdown, I’ve got to say that you are absolutely insane if you don’t want to see me and O’Malley fight next.”
Whilst Sandhagen understands that O’Malley is likely going to be called out by almost the entirety of the Top 15, he also believes that he’s in the perfect position to land that fight above anyone else.
“You guys know that this has been a fight that’s been in the works for a really long time… I’m not going to try and sound like I am throwing this idea out at you guys; you already know that’s a good idea – me and O’Malley got next.”
Unfortunately, Sean O’Malley has since revealed that he’s suffered a hip injury that will likely see him sitting out on the sidelines for around one year, so with O’Malley out of action – who could The Sandman face next?
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Well, one answer would have been former flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo; however, Sandhagen revealed that the Brazilian has already turned him down behind the scenes.
“Figgy turned down the fight against me [earlier] in September which is just kind of whack because I thought Figgy was a little bit more about that life than that.
“I’m kind of actually hurt that Figgy doesn’t want to fight me in December, but maybe he just wants to take the easier fights – I don’t know what that dude’s plan is.”
The former flyweight champion is vying for a surprise leapfrogging
Whilst Sandhagen says he doesn’t know what Figgy’s plan is, it’s rather obvious that Figueiredo is looking to try and leapfrog 18-0 Umar Nurmagomedov for the next bantamweight title shot.
Since The Machine captured the 135lb title from O’Malley, Figueiredo has been busy sharing a series of posts to his Instagram page, including one that called for the title fight to take place on December 7 at UFC 310.
‘The God of War’ also re-shared part of Dvalishvili’s post-fight media scrum, in which the newly crowned bantamweight champion explained why he’d prefer to fight Figgy next instead of the undefeated Nurmagomedov.
“I think Deiveson Figueiredo deserves to fight me next because he’s a former champion, he’s a top guy with a good submission game. I saw him out in the crowd today, he’s a great champion who just beat three guys and I think he deserves it more.
“This fight excites me more,” argued Dvalishvili, although his head coach John Wood also welcomes the challenge of the 18-0 Dagestani.