Cory Sandhagen will have to re-climb the bantamweight mountain after his latest championship setback against Merab Dvalishvili.
Cory Sandhagen has always handled both victory and defeat with the same level of transparency. His recent title loss to Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 320 is no exception.
Just weeks removed from his championship setback, the perennial bantamweight contender has had time to assess what went wrong, what went right, and how he intends to build from it. Though the sting of defeat is still there, Sandhagen’s response has been reflective rather than reactive.
“It obviously sucks to lose,” Sandhagen said on “The Ariel Helwani Show" on Tuesday. “I'm not too down in the dumps right now. It kind of just hits you in waves a little bit. But I'm doing OK. I obviously wish I would have won and had the fight go my way. But I'm a little more mature than I was in the past, dealing with losses. I've been here before, so it's not super surprising with the feelings.
“It definitely sucks. I wish that I was the champ, but I'm not.”
For Sandhagen, the fight was less about a single breakdown and more about a sequence of moments that swung momentum. He started strong, winning the first round on two of the three judges’ scorecards before Dvalishvili’s relentless pace began dictating the action — the same formula that’s carried the Georgian champion through an active and dominant run at the top of the division.
“I might have gotten a hair cocky just because Merab, when he would blitz, was getting a little wide with his shots, which we scouted,” Sandhagen said. “I just sat down on a hook that I thought would hit him in between his punches against the cage, and I had one of those shots that bounce off the top of your head that spins you for a second. But because I was against the cage, not a good situation. He hit me with a really good right hand, and that sucked. Then I just remember my coaches yelling from the corner, 'Get up. Move, move, move.’
“The second round definitely didn't go as planned, but it was like a baby mistake that I made and shouldn't have made. That's how this s*** goes.”
Small details like those, Sandhagen said, are what separate contenders from champions. His willingness to analyze those moments with precision — without excuses — is something that’s kept him relevant at the highest level for years, even as the division continues to shift.
Dvalishvili, meanwhile, has quickly embraced his champion’s schedule. “The Machine” is already set to return to action at UFC 323 on Dec. 6, with a rematch against former champion Petr Yan in Las Vegas. It’s a turnaround that even Sandhagen finds too impressive to deny.
“He's an animal for that,” Sandhagen said. “He doesn't have to do that, but he wants to do that. That dude is a unique individual, and good for him fighting again that soon because I would never do that. So good on him.”
As for how the sequel plays out, the recent title challenger expects a closer tilt than Dvalishvili and Yan’s lopsided encounter from March 2023.
“It's gonna be a really tough fight, honestly,” Sandhagen said. “He's going to have to do it the same way he beat me, where he's going to have to milk some of that time in those wrestling positions and make Yan fight them. The first time they fought, Yan just couldn't get any momentum going. After you've fought a guy like that, it's probably a little bit easier the second time. You can kind of feel that, notice that, then counter that better. Yan has that advantage, for sure. It's gonna be a super tough fight, but Merab will win.”
Sandhagen’s respect for Dvalishvili runs deep after having traded mitts in the Octagon, but he’s already onto pondering his own next move. There’s one name and one matchup that continues to stand out to both fans and the fighter himself, and it's the long-discussed meeting with former champion Sean O’Malley.
“I think that me and O'Malley has to happen,” Sandhagen said. “If there's ever a time to do it, it's now. I don't know if he's booked on anything. That White House card would be sick to fight on against O'Malley. There's one fight in the division that people are really, really calling for over and over and over again, and it's me and O'Malley. If you threw us on that White House card, I think that would be such a gigantic fight.
“It's kind of a ways away, so I'm not stoked on that. But for such a huge card against such a good fighter and a really good opportunity for the both of us to give the fans what they really wanna see, it would be worth waiting for.”
O’Malley has been out of the spotlight since his submission loss in the rematch with Dvalishvili this past June. While “Suga” has hinted at potential returns sooner rather than later, nothing yet has been made official, leaving the door open for a fight with Sandhagen.
That matchup, if it materializes, could serve as a pivotal moment in the division — a chance for Sandhagen to keep himself among the elite and for O’Malley to do the same while facing a technical striker of equal caliber.
Until then, Sandhagen plans to stay active, continue refining his approach, and keep himself ready for whatever opportunities arise.
“That to me is the biggest fight you can make in the division outside the championship fight,” he said. “It doesn't make too much more sense than it ever has now.”
Category: General Sports
