Cory Sandhagen has been tipped to beat Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 320.
The #4 UFC bantamweight contender came up short in his last title opportunity, a short notice fight against Petr Yan for the interim title after champion Aljamain Sterling had withdrawn from UFC 267.
Sandhagen has bounced back from the close decision loss to Yan by winning four out of his last five fights, recently defeating former two-time champion Deiveson Figueiredo at UFC Des Moines in May.
Now, Sandhagen is set to take on arguably the greatest bantamweight of all time, Merab Dvalishvili in the co-main event of UFC 320.
Dvalishvili’s style is grappling-heavy and his cardio is regarded as the best in the UFC today. The champion is currently riding a 13-fight win streak, with victories over eight world champions.
The well-rounded Sandhagen is getting all the help he can ahead of his first undisputed title fight in October.
Eddie Alvarez calls Cory Sandhagen ‘the next champion’ after training with him
Coached by Trevor Wittman, the mastermind behind former pound-for-pound king Kamaru Usman and Justin Gaethje, Sandhagen recently got a different look at Eddie Alvarez’s gym, the Newtown Performance Institute in Philadelphia, home of ‘The Underground Kings’.
Alvarez is a former UFC and Bellator Lightweight Champion with wins over Rafael Dos Anjos, Anthony Pettis, Michael Chandler, Gilbert Melendez, and many more. He was also the first fighter to knock out and defeat former BMF champion Gaethje in a 2017 ‘fight-of-the-year’ contender.
Alvarez knows all about Sandhagen, as ‘Sandman’ slayed some of his world champion training partners in the UFC.
“About six years ago, when he was making his debut in the UFC. I didn’t know Lloyd was being his agent at the time. But I called my agent right away, and I said, hey, man. I don’t know if you ever seen this kid, Cory Sandhagen, but I think personally he’s gonna be the next UFC champion,” Alvarez said in a video posted by Underground Kings.
“He hasn’t touched gold yet, but he’s fought the who’s who. UFC hall of famers and some of the best guys in the division right now. He takes on everyone. You don’t pick opponents…
“What he’s [done] so far in UFC is nothing [short of] amazing. He’s fought my training partners. He shut us out so far. I’m not happy about it. He beat Marlon Moraes, one of my good friends.
“He beat Frankie Edgar, who I consider Frankie, a hall of famer, along with Raphael Assuncao.”
Sandhagen knocked out Edgar with a devastating flying knee in 2021 that made him sad post-fight. Sandhagen took out former WSOF champion Marlon Moraes with a spinning wheel kick the year before.
“The guy’s an absolute beast. I do still feel in my heart, he’s gonna be the next UFC champion,” Alvarez said of Sandhagen.
How the rest of Cory Sandhagen’s camp is looking for Merab Dvalishvili
Alvarez being a striker, who is Sandhagen working on his grappling with? Longtime training partner Justin Wetzell.
Once on the verge of a UFC contract, Wetzell is now a PFL world bantamweight tournament finalist. The 12-2 fighter says he’s doing all he can to emulate the champion Dvalishvili’s style.
“He’s got a great training partner in myself who’s going to help him with Merab’s style,” Wetzell told Bloody Elbow.
“Being on that end, I know it’s not going to be fun because when you’re out there and close that range, he’s very good at attacking you. So after this tournament is over I’m going to be getting back in the gym and I’m going to be using my style to help him.
“In my opinion it’s very similar to Merab’s, it’s got a high cardio base, lots of wrestling, lots of mixing it up. We’re pushing people against the cage and pushing the pace. That’s my style.”
Sandhagen has provided his insight on how to defeat Dvalishvili, saying on The Joe Rogan Experience: “I’m going to make Merab deal with me, instead of me having to deal with Merab.”
We’ll see how Sandhagen fares against Dvalishvili at UFC 320 on Oct. 4 in Las Vegas, Nevada.