The main event on May 3 ended in bizarre fashion as Cory Sandhagen got his arm raised after beating Deiveson Figueiredo.
Following a grappling exchange in the second round, the Brazilian suffered a knee injury which led to Sandhagen stopping Figueiredo in Des Moines.
The official result has gone down as a TKO due to a knee injury but it can’t be denied that ‘The Sandman’ was putting on an impressive performance throughout.
So much so that he earned the attention of the current UFC bantamweight champion with Merab Dvalishvili congratulating Sandhagen.
The 33-year-old has now reflected on his win via social media as he continues to try and push towards a title shot with UFC 316 taking place next month.
Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC
Though the fight may have ended in somewhat underwhelming fashion, Cory Sandhagen’s goal is the bantamweight title and he took another step towards that on May 3.
The #4-ranked contender has been considered to be one of the best fighters in the world at 135-pounds for some time but several setbacks have stopped him from winning the big one.
Sandhagen was incredibly proud of his win over Deiveson Figueiredo when reflecting on the fight, describing his performance as “flawless”.
“Ayyy let’s gooo! Flawless against the biggest puncher in the division – who else has faced him and can say that? Blessed, man.”
He went on to say that it was an honor to share the cage with the former flyweight champion as he spoke about how unpredictable the sport can be which only makes the wins feel even better.
‘The Sandman’ has set his sights on the bantamweight gold once again having already stated that he will be in attendance for UFC 316 where Merab Dvalishvili faces Sean O’Malley in a rematch.
“Gonna keep doing my best. I’m just a dude trying to accomplish something that a young, kid Cory had the dream of doing – world champion. We got closer to that tonight. So Hell yeah.”
In the immediate aftermath of the main event, some fans may have believed that Deiveson Figueiredo had suffered a freak knee injury.
The reason that Cory Sandhagen is so happy with his performance is that he knows that he caused this to happen thanks to his knowledge of the incredibly tricky 50:50 position.
He said in the post-fight press conference that he knew exactly what he was doing to create this outcome, having done it to TJ Dillashaw in the past when they fought in 2021.
“It was like a pop submission. The position’s called 50:50. If you don’t know how to play 50:50, you’re gonna pop your knee… If I sit up hard and you don’t sit back, your knee is going to pop… That wasn’t like an accidental thing.”
Though Petr Yan is also in the mix at 135-pounds, Sandhagen might be in a better position because the Russian has already been beaten by both Merab Dvalishvili and Sean O’Malley in the past.
Cory SandhagenDeiveson FigueiredoUFC Des Moines
