Cory Sandhagen has revealed that he will be on the side-lines for at least six months as he recovers from surgery.
Talking to Ariel Helwani on the MMA Hour, Sandhagen revealed that he had a fully torn tricep. Sandhagen claimed that the injury had happened in the first round of his heavily criticised fight against Rob Font.
Heavy Criticism for Cory Sandhagen
Sandhagen dominated his fight with Font from start to finish, completely nullifying any threat that Font may have presented. His approach to the fight received widespread rejection as Sandhagen utilised his wrestling prowess in a ‘lay and pray’ kind of performance.
As effective as these tactics were, the performance received boo’s from the Nashville crowd. However, Sandhagen revealed post-fight that he had been suffering from an elbow injury but had refused to pull out of the fight as he didn’t want to let the fans down. Ironically, Sandhagen remained on the card as to not disappoint the fans but then received backlash from what was a very uncharacteristic display.
Next in Line?
Sandhagen 50-45’d Font with relative ease but it typically wasn’t the kind of performance that gets you a title shot. However, with Sean O’Malley set to face off with Aljamain Sterling for the belt at UFC292. The next contenders in the rankings are Merab Dvalishvili, Henry Cejudo and Cory Sandhagen. With Aljo expected to move up to featherweight if he is successful against O’Malley, there will likely be a vacant title opportunity for two of those three. Merab is most likely to be one of those and Sandhagen had certainly staked his claim to be next in line.
Does the Injury Rule Sandhagen Out of Potential Vacant Title Shot?
With Sandhagen stating that he will likely be out for at least six months, that would mean we likely won’t see him in the octagon until March next year. Should Aljo be successful and vacate the title, it is doubtful that the UFC would want to leave the division at a standstill until March. It is more likely that the UFC would order Cejudo to face Merab for the vacant belt with Sandhagen lined up to face the winner upon his return.
Has Sandhagen done enough to deserve his shot when he returns? If Aljo is to vacate, who should fight for the belt next? Who do you think wins between Aljo and O’Malley? Give us your thoughts in the comments section.
Featured image credit to Embed from Getty Images
