In his most recent bout earlier this month, Cory Sandhagen put on a masterclass performance, pulling off a second-round stoppage of Deiveson Figueriedo in the main event of UFC Des Moines. It was a showing that left many people wondering how sooner it'll be before we see Sandhagen challenging for the UFC bantamweight championship.
Funny enough, it was a complete turnaround from when we saw Sandhagen in a title eliminator bout. Prior to facing Figueriedo, Sandhagen's most recent bout had been a fight with Umar Nurmagomedov in the main event of UFC Abu Dhabi last August -- with a shot at the 135-pound gold on the line.
Against the former flyweight champion, Sandhagen got the better of Figueiredo on the feet and outperformed him in the grappling exchanges. None of that could be said in his fight with Nurmagomedov, with the Dagestani fighter completely wiping the floor with Sandhagen in a one-sided, dominating performance.
In his recent appearance on the Overdogs Podcast with Mike Perry, Sandhagen said the scorecards told a different story than what the fight came down to. He, in particular, pointed out a mistake of choosing moments an all-around, 25-minute battle.
"I definitely didn't perform my best, but I made little tiny errors that would have made the fight winnable for me," Sandhagen said. "I just got really hyper-focused on having big moments, and that's just not what I do. I overthought that one a lot too because Umar had a unique style, and I'm the type of idiot to overthink stuff and overdo stuff. I'll just make corrections and be ready for him next time."
Cory Sandhagen Says He Let His Coaches Coach In Lead Up To Fight vs. Deiveson Figueiredo
Sandhagen added that part of the issue also stemmed from taking control of the training camp he had in the weeks leading up to fighting Nurmagomedov. Looking back, Sandhagen felt he overstepped boundaries and got in the way of his coaches trying to help him perfect his craft.
Sandhagen said he made sure he took a step back this time around.
"One major change I made from the last camp to this one was I let my coaches do their job," Sandhagen said. "Before, I was really micromanagy. This camp, I was just like, 'Hey guys, last camp I put way too much on my plate and that was my bad. This time, I'm going to just listen and be a good student.' That took so much stress and junk off my mind. These guys are better than I am at a lot of things - they know more stuff. It's my own stubbornness that sometimes gets in the way."
Sandhagen has now won four of his last five and awaits the winner of the Merab Dvalishvili vs. Sean O'Malley 2 title fight that headlines UFC 316 for a potential title shot.