At the top of the new year, Cory Sandhagen is set to square off against Frankie Edgar in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night 166, and the surging bantamweight is still pinching himself to make sure a fight against such a revered opponent will really happen:
“Yeah, man, I was pumped,” Sandhagen said on “The Luke Thomas Show” recently. “I never thought that I’d see my face on the same poster as Frankie. I don’t know, man. It’s just kind of like a surreal feeling, you know? Like, you go from watching all of these guys on TV….and he’s not like the normal guy you were watching on TV. He was the ex-UFC champ, everyone loves this guy. I’m really pumped about it. It’s really surreal to me.
What is real, Sandhagen argues, are the world title implications for the winner of the bout, whom he believes should be the rightful #1 contender for Henry Cejudo’s bantamweight championship:
“If I can handle Frankie the way that I know that I can and he can bring his best, and he can bring out the best in me, I think I’m ready. I know that that’s kind of a shoddy thing to say, and I know that a lot of guys are kinda in that spot, but the biggest reason I was most excited for this Frankie fight is because I really believe Frankie is the toughest guy right now who’s in the contender talk. So Aldo, Moraes, Faber, Yan….Aljamain’s out for a while…but I mean, me and Frankie, I think, is the fight that should be the number-1 contender spot.”
Do you agree with Cory Sandhagen? Should the winner of his bout against Frankie Edgar at UFC Fight Night 166 receive the next UFC bantamweight title shot?
