Cory Sandhagen calls for fight with Sean O’Malley: ‘I’ll give this fool as much time as he wants’
Former interim bantamweight title challenger, Cory Sandhagen has called for a title eliminator against former champion, Sean O’Malley next — claiming the Montana striker has “no business” fighting for gold in his return to the Octagon.
Sandhagen, the current number four ranked bantamweight contender, has been sidelined since the summer, most recently taking on most recent title challenger and UFC 311 co-headliner, Umar Nurmagomedov.
And suffering defeat in the pair’s title eliminator, Sandhagen was dispatched over the course of five rounds in a one-sided unanimous decision loss to the Russian — seeing his impressive run of three straight wins halted to boot.
Cory Sandhagen calls for title eliminator with Sean O’Malley
Yet to book his return to action in the time since, Sandhagen has made his case for a title eliminator with Contender Series alum, O’Malley in his comeback to active competition — questioning how he could be booked to rematch current champion, Merab Dvalishvili next.
“Let’s be real, (Sean) O’Malley has no business fighting Merab (Dvalishvili) for an immediate rematch.” Cory Sandhagen said in a video posted on his official social media. “He got beat up in the first fight. He’s gonna get beat up in the second fight. No one wants to see that fight.”
“I’m not not booked yet, I wanna fight,” Cory Sandhagen explained. “I am so damn bored. I’ll even give this fool [O’Malley] as much time as he wants — the way Aljamain (Sterling) gave him as much time as he wanted. UFC, make the fight the fans wanna see; which is me and O’Malley. Make it happen soon. I’m so f*cking bored.”
Linked with a title re-run against Georgian fan-favorite, Dvalishvili post-UFC 311, O’Malley would be welcomed to a title rematch by the former — who admitted he was open to fight him again next.
Yeah, I have no idea [who I will fight next],” Merab Dvalishvili told Ariel Helwani for Uncrowned. “But it looks like, I guess, yes, it looks like maybe he is my next opponent, but who knows? I want to fight for the best option, whoever is the best next, and I just want to be busy.”
“Yes, sir. I will fight Sean again if UFC asks me to do it,” Merab Dvalishvili explained.
