Cory Sandhagen vs. Umar Nurmagomedov Preview
UFC Abu Dhabi’s headliner between Cory Sandhagen and Umar Nurmagomedov has been an expected fight for over a year. The pair were originally scheduled to face at UFC Nashville last August before an injury forced Nurmagomedov out of the fight. In place of Nurmagomedov, Rob Font stepped in to face the ‘Sandman’. Sandhagen battled through a shoulder injury and used his wrestling to dominate Font for all five rounds.
While he recovered from that injury, Nurmagomedov stayed active, facing newcomer Bekzat Almakhan in March. Despite being dropped seconds in, Nurmagomedov recovered quickly and dominated the rest of the fight, allowing just three significant strikes over 15 minutes. Nurmagomedov decided to wait patiently for the top 5 matchup against Sandhagen and the fight was rebooked almost a year to the day later.
Sandhagen comes into the fight with wins in his last three. Nurmagomedov comes in with massive hype due to his family name and remarkable 17-fight win streak. Sandhagen’s only losses came against former champions Aljamain Sterling, T.J. Dillashaw, and Petr Yan. If Nurmagomedov outlasts the ‘Sandman’, he joins some elite company and is likely to challenge for gold soon.
Recap
Some early kicks were exchanged by both men before Numagomedov quickly secured a takedown and looked to take the back. Sandhagen was keen to this, however, and slipped out before being put in any real danger. Another deep takedown attempt from Nurmagomedov was surprisingly stuffed by Sandhagen, whose wrestling defense looked great. Both men traded leg kicks and light punches for the majority of the round before Umar Nurmagomedov secured a late takedown as a very close first round came to a close.
Sandhagen continued to control the cage and push the pace to start Round 2. A beautiful switch by Nurmagomedov was meaningless after Sandhagen escaped on the feet. A big right hand came crashing in from Sandhagen as the most significant strike of the fight. The rest of the round continued with a tightly contested kickboxing match until Nurmagomedov made a slick move and secured a takedown after catching a body kick. He went to the back of Sandhagen and after a wild scramble, ended back up on the feet for the round’s end.
Another close round full of kickboxing ensued, with Sandhagen landing solid leg kicks and Umar landing to the head and body. Another Nurmagomedov takedown attempt was denied when Sandhagen broke the grip and scrambled away. However, Nurmagomedov was able to secure another late takedown and ended the round on the back of Sandhagen.
Championship Rounds
With the fight still so close through three rounds, both men needed to secure the last two rounds to be comfortable going to the judges. Nurmagomedov came out hard with his boxing and started landing big punches on Sandhagen. The volume really ticked up for both men in this round and following a big dirty boxing exchange, Nurmagomedov seemed to break away. His speed stayed with him even late into Round 4, as he started throwing fiery combinations. Once the hands got going, he switched it up and ended the round with a takedown to secure it.
Umar Nurmagomedov came out swinging again, landing some big punches early in the fifth. Both men continued to land leg and body kicks throughout the fight, walking through every strike. A scramble gave Nurmagomedov top position, where Sandhagen nearly trapped him in a triangle from his back. Nurmagomedov evaded the submission and took control in full guard before working to the back. Sandhagen got out of the dangerous position but was forced to ride the rest of the round out in guard.
After an extremely close and competitive fight between two of bantamweights best, the scorecards read 50-45, 49-46, 49-46 to give Umar Nurmagomedov his 18th straight win and a top 3 spot at bantamweight.
UFC Fighters React to Umar Nurmagomedov’s Extremely High Level Win Over Corey Sandhagen
Featured Image Credit via Embed from Getty Images
