Cory Sandhagen loves Sean O’Malley’s suggestion of a championship bout on the White Home.
However very first thing’s first, Sandhagen has to win the UFC bantamweight championship, and he has the prospect to do exactly that when he challenges Merab Dvalishvili within the co-main occasion of UFC 320 on Saturday at T-Cellular Enviornment in Las Vegas.
On his podcast, O’Malley stated he sees a path to battle for the belt at UFC White Home if he wins his subsequent battle, and if Sandhagen defeats Dvalishvili. Sandhagen will surely take that highway if accessible to him.
“Yeah, for positive, O’Malley’s been on my radar, I’ve been on his radar for a very long time, and yeah, I’ll be on the A-side of it this time,” Sandhagen informed MMA Combating. “For a very long time, O’Malley was the extra well-known man who didn’t actually wish to, I don’t suppose, have too many conversations about combating me.
“However while you’re champ, everybody desires to battle you. So yeah, it’ll be enjoyable to be on the A-side of the facet of that dialog as a substitute of feeling like I’m begging for a battle towards a star. I’ll be the star.”
O’Malley doesn’t have a battle booked in the mean time as he finds himself in unfamiliar territory — getting into a battle on a two-fight skid, with each losses coming to Dvalishvili. After shedding the belt at UFC 306 to Dvalishvili this previous September, O’Malley was dominated and completed within the rematch at UFC 316 in June.
Sandhagen has seen the renderings of what the UFC White Home occasion could appear like, and he’s intrigued by every part it could possibly be, particularly given the present political local weather we stay in.
“I imply, shit, it’s gonna be a as soon as in a lifetime factor,” Sandhagen stated. “It feels prefer it’s just like the Sphere, however on steroids. Everybody was excited in regards to the Sphere and that is going to take it to an entire one other stage, dude.”
“I don’t know, that that shit is loopy, particularly simply the best way politics is type of our new oracle or f*cking type of id construction and simply how large that’s proper now. Yeah, I don’t know, that’d be loopy. After which strolling out of the Oval Workplace sounds tremendous bizarre. I’m wondering the place we’ll heat up. Yeah, it’ll be enjoyable.”
Sandhagen earned his first shot at undisputed gold after ending Deiveson Figueiredo in the principle occasion of UFC Des Moines in Might. The 33-year-old competed for the interim title at UFC 267 in October 2021, shedding a Combat of the Evening resolution to Petr Yan.
Since then, Sandhagen has gained 4 of 5 and feels at this level in his profession, he’s primed to grow to be champion. When requested the way it will really feel if Dana White wraps that title round his waist, Sandhagen says he isn’t fairly positive.
“At this level in my life, man, I’m 33, so I’m type of reasonably mature, so I don’t suppose that the belt goes to do something like inner happiness-wise,” Sandhagen defined. “Typically I feel I’m dwelling within the Matrix as a result of my life is so superior. So I don’t suppose {that a} human being can have a greater life than I type of really feel like I’ve, and I do know that if I misplaced every part, I’ve created a spot inside me the place I do know that I’ll nonetheless be completely satisfied, so I don’t actually count on it to do something for that. However I do actually suppose that it’s going to open up some actually superior doorways for me and so I’m excited to see. Simply being put within the class of UFC champion could be very completely different than being put within the class of UFC fighter.
“So I’m excited to see what sort of doorways and what sort of avenues that opens up for me, in that regard. I feel that the final 10 p.c of something is at all times the toughest, and I’ve dedicated myself to this factor for over a decade – like 15,16 years at this level, and I’m actually excited to look at it come to fruition. However all alongside, I’ve type of identified that it’s going to occur.”
