Outside Source
Sandhagen (18-7) took on Bautista (18-3) in a bantamweight bout at UFC 329 in Las Vegas. While they were going toe-to-toe in the first round, Bautista caught Sandhagen in a kneebar late in the round, hyperextending his left leg. While “The Sandman” survived the round, he immediately informed his corner that his leg was compromised.
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Despite Sandhagen’s movement being evidently limited, he surprisingly out-landed Bautista in the second round. The latter then dropped Sandhagen in the third frame and accumulated control time to earn a unanimous decision win.
Sandhagen details how a suspected hamstring tear altered his game plan
Sandhagen has since revealed a gruesome injury to his hamstring from Bautista’s submission attempt. He believes he tore his hamstring in the opening round, limiting his arsenal for the rest of the fight. The 34-year-old notes that fighting at the top level allows little margin of error.
“Frickin bummer man. Losing in fighting is the most embarrassing thing ever. Sucks,” Sandhagen wrote on Instagram. “Pretty sure the kneebar tore my hamstring in the first (getting MRI this week). It kept locking out weird if I did certain things. So that kind of messed up my game plan. Congrats to Mario. He was well prepared. 1st was close but he won it with that knee bar. 2nd, I won (surprisingly cause leg was jacked). 3rd, I wanted to have the same round as before but got dropped. Gotta fight near perfect to win at the top. Something I need to get better at. Appreciate the love from you guys. Enjoy your week. Love you. Peace.”
This was Sandhagen’s second loss on the trot, following a failed title bid against Merab Dvalishvili this past October. Meanwhile, Bautista has only lost to Umar Nurmagomedov in 11 outings since 2022 and has since rebounded with back-to-back wins.
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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