There is no mystery in the mind of Cory Sandhagen what happens when he enters the cage with undefeated uber-prospect Umar Nurmagomedov on Saturday in Abu Dhabi.
“I’m gonna do this thing. I’m going to be a world champ, I’m going to get this thing done and that’s my mentality,” Sandhagen told Sportsnet earlier this week.
At age 32, the clock is ticking on Sandhagen’s prime bantamweight years, a division that has only once crowned a first-time champion that is his age or older. By the time that he challenges for the title, should he earn that opportunity and prove successful, he would be the oldest first-time bantamweight champion.
It certainly has not been due to a lack of opportunity. In 2020, Sandhagen lost his title eliminator bout against Aljamain Sterling in embarrassing fashion and would go on to lose in his opportunity to become the interim champion when he faced Petr Yan the following year.
Despite falling short on those occasions, Sandhagen has been relentless in proving that he belongs among the names at the top of the division having won three straight against a top prospect in Song Yadong, a future title challenger in Chito Vera and an always tricky Rob Font.
Nurmagomedov, his opponent in Saturday’s main event, has not received similar opportunities because few have wanted to face him. In his last bout earlier this year in March, the UFC had to sign someone from outside the promotion in order to secure him an opponent.
While others have run from the boogeyman, Sandhagen has chased him and this is his second time accepting a bout with the undefeated Russian, who withdrew from a matchup with Sandhagen due to injury last year.
When fighters are handed a bout sheet with the name Nurmagomedov, it is understandable why there is hesitancy. Umar is trained by the legendary Khabib Nurmagomedov, who retired from the sport with an undefeated record and now trains some of the most dominant fighters in the sport, including UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev and Umar’s brother, Bellator lightweight champion Usman Nurmagomedov.
Sandhagen is not particularly worried about any of this.
“Him being a big name in Russia, also him having a famous last name, coming from a really good camp with really good coaches and he’s an undefeated guy that everyone thinks is going to be the next guy,” Sandhagen said. “I’m really excited to prove that he might be all of those things, but he’s not better than me.”
While Sandhagen is a big underdog in this matchup, only the best bantamweights have been able to beat him with his three UFC losses all coming to former champions in Sterling, Yan and a closely contested split decision against former training partner T.J. Dillashaw.
One thing that simply cannot be questioned is Sandhagen’s skill level. His well-roundedness paired with elite striking technique are what have helped him become a mainstay at the top of the bantamweight division, but Saturday will be the ultimate test as to whether or not he can finally cross that threshold and cement himself as the next title challenger.
In a perfect world, Sandhagen hopes to derail the hype train that has been pushing Nurmagomedov over the past few years and head to The Sphere in Las Vegas next month to watch Sean O’Malley defend his championship against Merab Dvalishvili and find out who stands in the way of what he believes is his destiny.