Cory Sandhagen is ‘daydreaming’ about what his UFC title reign would look like.
Next week, the #4 UFC bantamweight contender will enter his first undisputed title fight against defending champion Merab Dvalishvili in the co-main event of UFC 320 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Cory Sandhagen has been in massive fights before, from title eliminators with Aljamain Sterling, TJ Dillashaw, and Umar Nurmagomedov, to a 2021 interim title fight with Petr Yan, but none as big as his upcoming title fight on Oct. 4.
Ahead of the matchup, Sandhagen is already thinking about what’s next.
Cory Sandhagen eyes Petr Yan and Umar Nurmagomedov after UFC 320
Sandhagen says he’s ‘daydreaming about what changes’ with a title win over Dvalishvili at UFC 320.
Speaking to New York Post Sports, ‘Sandman’ is very much looking forward to calling the shots as the new bantamweight champion of the world.
“I also really like the feeling of, I will be in charge of who I fight next and where it’s gonna be,” Sandhagen said.
“I don’t wanna fight Umar, and I don’t wanna fight Petr Yan in the Middle East again,” Sandhagen admitted.
“I wanna fight them here stateside where they can deal with the travel and all of that stuff.”
Petr Yan defeated Sandhagen on short notice at UFC 267 and Umar Nurmagomedov defeated Sandhagen last year in a five-round main event. Both fights went to decision after 25 minutes.
“I’m excited to get those two rematches done too so that I can kind of—legacy isn’t the most important thing to me, but beating Merab, who’s known as one of the greats and put really high on a pedestal, and then being able to go back and beat two of the guys that I know that I definitely can beat.
“Very competitive fights,” Sandhagen said of top contenders Yan and Nurmagomedov.
“I do that as a champion, and then I’m really sitting really nice on accolades and who I’ve beat and all of that stuff, which I think in the long run, with the real fans, is what goes the furthest,” said Sandhagen.