Cory Sandhagen does not see his upcoming opponent as the best the UFC currently has to offer.
Saturday’s UFC 320 pay-per-view will host Sandhagen’s very first undisputed title shot on MMA’s biggest stage, as he looks to touch gold for the first time after missing out on the interim bantamweight belt four years ago.
Wins over Song Yadong, Marlon Vera, Rob Font, and Deiveson Figueiredo have earned the American his opportunity, and Sandhagen is now tasked with beating Merab Dvalishvili if he is to begin a new era in the division.
‘The Machine’ has been branded unbeatable by many fans and fighters, having won 13 straight en route to bantamweight greatness. But despite the Georgian’s unrivaled winning streak in the UFC, Sandhagen does not see himself as sharing the cage with the promotion’s best on October 4.
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Cory Sandhagen chooses Ilia Topuria over Merab Dvalishvili as the current best UFC fighter
Before Sandhagen had tense face-offs with Dvalishvili at both Thursday’s press conference and Friday’s ceremonial weigh-ins, he played a light-hearted game of ‘The Best’ with TNT Sports during fight week.
‘The Sandman’ chose fighters as the top pick for a number of categories, one of which was the “best fighter in the UFC right now.”
Instead of taking the chance to further enhance his planned triumph over Dvalishvili by naming him in a choice that certainly would not be without merit, Sandhagen went with someone his UFC 320 opponent is very familiar with.
The American selected Ilia Topuria, who was the most recent entry into the club of two-division champions in the UFC after following his brief featherweight reign with lightweight success.
Topuria knocked out Charles Oliveira at UFC 317 to gain the 155-pound strap and snatch top spot in the pound-for-pound rankings away from Islam Makhachev.
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Cory Sandhagen claims to have many more ‘routes to victory’ than Merab Dvalishvili
Despite Dvalishvili winning 13 straight to add his name into bantamweight GOAT contention, Sandhagen does not see the Georgian having many ways to win at UFC 320.
The confident challenger has expressed immense confidence when it comes to shutting down the champion’s strengths. And with that in mind, ‘The Sandman’ expects to punish ‘The Machine’ in his wheelhouse on the feet.
“Unless his striking has gotten a lot better, it’s going to be a really hard night for him,” Sandhagen told UFC.com.
“Not once in a fight have I felt incredibly fatigued the way that I’ve seen some of his other opponents be. Not once in a fight have I been on my back for longer than 10 seconds unless it was something that I was trying to do.
“So you take those two things off the table, which I’ve proven time and time again that I’m very good at, and Merab doesn’t have a lot of routes to victory, and I have a lot of them,” he added.
“It’s going to be my night. I’m going to be champ.”