UFC San Antonio headliner, Cory Sandhagen, is less than pleased with former double-champion, Henry Cejudo, and his immediate title shot post-retirement.
Cejudo last fought in May 2020, announcing his retirement after finishing inaugural bantamweight champion, Dominick Cruz, at UFC 249. The belt lineage then saw Yan fight Sandhagen for the interim belt as Aljamain Sterling and Yan had their two-fight spree in the midst of it.
Sandhagen has also faced bantamweight champion, Aljamain Sterling, who is scheduled to fight Cejudo in the main event of UFC 288 May 6 in Newark, New Jersey. Sandhagen will look to remain in the title picture with a win against Marlon Vera Saturday night.
During his media availability Wednesday, Sandhagen addressed Cejudo being thrust into a title fight, jumping over several contenders, including the 15-win veteran.
I guess I’m OK with it,” Sandhagen said. “I do think that you shouldn’t be able to pop out of retirement and then just fight for a belt. That seems a little bit lame to me. You shouldn’t have returned in the first place if that was the case. That’s my opinion on it. As long as I’m not the one competing against Cejudo for the next title shot, which I don’t feel like I am, I could (not) kind of care less.”
Sandhagen has had an impressive run in the UFC thus far, beating some of the best that the division has to over. His career has seen him compete against the likes of T.J. Dillashaw, among other bantamweight greats.
Despite Sandhagen’s issue with Cejudo getting a title shot, he is looking forward to seeing how Sterling and Cejudo look come fight night, he said.
“That’s actually a really interesting fight,” Sandhagen said. “You get two guys who are really good at wrestling, and usually what you get is a not-so-good kickboxing match, which could be what it is. But I also could see Cejudo using his takedowns just to nullify close rounds.“
Sandhagen added that Cejudo’s key to an upset might be harder than people think.
“I think that’ll probably be his path to victory: He’ll try to just score some takedowns – not really mess around with Aljamain too much on the floor, just nullify the striking that I feel like is probably going to be pretty close,” Sandhagen said. “It’s a tricky one. I have really no idea what Cejudo’s been up to except for making YouTube videos. It’ll be interesting to see.”
Quotes transcribed from MMAJunkie.
How does Cory Sandhagen matchup with Marlon Vera and will he earn another title shot with a win? Let us know your thoughts in the comments, Penn Nation!
