Outside Source
Cory Sandhagen doesn’t think Sean O’Malley has consistently fought tough competition.
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Sandhagen believes one is bound to lose at some point if they regularly take on elite opponents. Sandhagen considers only himself, Merab Dvalishvili and Petr Yan worthy of that claim — and certainly not O’Malley. Sandhagen is also confident that he can outclass O’Malley and wants to prove it when they potentially meet.
“When me and O’Malley fight, I’ll get to show that I’m a lot better than him,” Sandhagen said on “The Overdogs Podcast.” “Unless I get that opportunity, I don’t really feel like arguing with the ether of the internet about who’s better at what. I think I’ll definitely get that opportunity to show that one of these days…I think if you fight tough guys for long enough there’s gonna be nights when you just don’t win… And I fought the best guys for a really long time. And not a lot of other people in the division really get to say that except for maybe Yan and Merab. And O’Malley’s not really one of those guys that gets to say he’s fought all of the best of the best of the division. I think that when he does that, he’s gonna have off nights and he’s gonna lose. I sometimes have off nights, and I’ve lost. That’s just how fighting works.”
O’Malley’s two biggest wins are a split decision over Petr Yan and a knockout of Aljamain Sterling in a title bout. While Dvalishvili was the clear title contender when O’Malley became champ, “Suga” insisted on avenging a loss against Marlon Vera in his first title defense. O’Malley’s reign came to an end via a dominant decision loss against Dvalishvili last year. Dvalishvili went on to successfully defend his title against a previously undefeated Umar Nurmagomedov, widely considered the toughest contender. Dvalishvili now puts his strap on the line in a rematch against O’Malley at UFC 316 on June 7 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. Many consider O’Malley undeserving of the rematch with contenders like Sandhagen waiting in the sidelines.
Meanwhile, Sandhagen had to go through the trenches to make his way to the top. “The Sandman” lost against Sterling, Yan and Nurmagomedov while managing to beat Vera, Rob Font, Yadong Song, and most recently, Deiveson Figueiredo. A loss against Dvalishvili at UFC 316 could put O’Malley on a collision course with Sandhagen.
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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