Cory Sandhagen has been one of the mainstays atop the UFC’s bantamweight division for a while now. As such, many would say that Cory might even be next in line for a title shot. However, following his latest win against Rob Font, Cory has been subject to a lot of criticism from fans.
UFC Nashville had fans hyped for a night of some great fights. For the most part, the card was delivered with some superb finishes, but the same could not be said about the main card. Headlining the event were Cory Sandhagen and Rob Font in a 140lbs catchweight bout. Replacing an injured Umar Nurmagomedov on short notice, adding in Font instead had the fans excited for the fight.
Cory Sandhagen showing off the elbow injury he suffered 😬 pic.twitter.com/F4TTErsdKz
— Jason Williams (@jasoneg33) August 6, 2023
Unfortunately, it was not to be as Cory decided to wrestle Font for the entirety of the 5 rounds. In what many expected to be a strike-fest, they were instead treated to a bore-fest, a rarity for either fighter. After the fight, Cory was understandably subjected to a lot of boos for adopting this new style of fighting. However, as he has since revealed, he suffered an elbow and tricep-tear injury preventing him from striking.
As such, The Sandman opted for a more wrestling-heavy approach, getting Font down as soon as possible in each round. Throughout the fight, Sandhagen scored 7 takedowns, accumulating nearly 20 minutes of control time. Despite his dominance, UFC fighters and boss Dana White were largely unimpressed by the 31-year-old.
Cory Sandhagen received a lot of criticism from fans
Speaking about the fight in the UFC Post Show, Sandhagen touched upon why he opted for the game plan that he did. Since fans did not get to see the fast-paced, action-heavy contest that they were promised, a large portion of the fanbase lumped in on Cory. As such, many hurled abuse at the former title challenger, calling him ‘boring’ and a ‘cr*tch-sniffer’ among other things.
However, as Cory reveals, “If I can win that way, I will – a 100% of the time.“Coming into the fight, Cory did plan to take down Rob and try to keep him there. However, instead of an option, it became the only way for Cory to stay in the fight. “Yeah, something happened to my elbow in the first round. I’ve been having like, just elbow issues for like the last couple of months, but something happened, I was like ehh… that could be sketchy.“, said Sandhagen.
As it turns out, Cory’s injury began getting worse by rounds 2 and 3. Thus, he decided to play it safe and chose to hold down Font for as long as he could. Further, Cory stated that Rob Font is one of the most dangerous fighters in the division, making his decision to wrestle and limit damage to himself, a no-brainer. Currently, Sandhagen is yet to update about the extent of the injury.
Now on the cusp of a second title shot, Cory would like to return as soon as possible. Seeing that Aljamain Sterling and Sean O’Malley will go at it later this month, Cory will be eyeing the winner next. Moreover, with Merab Dvalishvili and Henry Cejudo out of action, it could be a shorter route to the title for the Colorado-based fighter.