Longtime UFC cutman Brad Tate felt notably uneasy while treating a former UFC champion’s gash.
UFC cutman Brad Tate is a common presence at some of the promotion’s biggest cards. Tate, a 19-year UFC employee, helps treat some of the nastiest mid-fight cuts that fighters suffer through on a regular basis.
Fighters suffer through injuries and nasty gashes before, during, and sometimes after their appearances in the Octagon. Tate is usually one of the first people on the scene to help tame the bleeding.
But for Tate, a longtime paramedic, one former UFC champion’s gash left him in a state of panic.
Brad ‘Cutman’ Tate points out one UFC fighter’s cut that left him ‘freaking out’
In a recent interview with SportsKeeda‘s James Lynch, Tate pointed to one laceration a fighter suffered that had him feeling extremely uneasy.
“The TJ Dillashaw cut when he fought Cory Sandhagen. Because the cut was vertical in the eyebrow, and I had never seen that before,” Tate said.
“So the doctor was telling me ‘Hey you have to work this, because there’s a nerve [there], and if you don’t stop that, it can damage more’.
“I’m looking at the cut and I’m freaking out…that was one of my most challenging ones, but it ended up working out, and TJ got the win.”
Former UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw went on to win the fight over Cory Sandhagen by split decision, in one of the most controversial victories of his career. Dillashaw then lost to Aljamain Sterling at UFC 280 before retiring due to an extensive injury history.
Meanwhile, Sandhagen remains one of the top UFC bantamweight contenders and will likely get the next title shot nod.
Cory Sandhagen is set to get long-awaited bantamweight title shot
Sandhagen and UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili will likely clash by year’s end. Dvalishvili most recently defeated Sean O’Malley in their UFC 316 rematch, while Sandhagen was victorious against Deiveson Figueiredo at UFC Des Moines last month.
Sandhagen is the most likely option for Dvalishvili’s next opponent, as Umar Nurmagomedov‘s return to the Octagon is uncertain. A potential rematch between Nurmagomedov and Dvalishvili was endorsed recently by UFC CEO Dana White as a legacy builder for the champion’s career.
Dvalishvili defeated Nurmagomedov earlier this year by unanimous decision to retain his UFC bantamweight title. Nurmagomedov was unbeaten entering UFC 311.
Sandhagen will look to dethrone the UFC bantamweight champion Dvalishvili and rein in a new era in the division. But he faces a tall task, as Dvalishvili will enter the fight at the peak of his ongoing fighting momentum.