Cory Sandhagen isn’t too dispirited after this unanimous decision loss to bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili at last weekend’s UFC 320 event.
The American entered last weekend’s co-main event following four wins in his past five, including a submission win over the former flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo earlier this year. But faced with the relentless, cardio-king assault from the Georgian champion — who almost finished the fight in the second round after catching Sandhagen with a series of clubbing strikes — Sandhagen was unable to record what would have been his 19th and biggest win of his career.
“That’s an absolutely winnable fight,” Sandhagen announced in a video posted to social media.
He added: “I just have to not almost get knocked the f*ck out in the second round. I absolutely still believe in myself and that I’ll be champ.”
Sandhagen isn’t alone in wilting to the imposing pressure presented by Dvalishvili, who has now won 14 straight fights in the UFC cage — including impressive wins over Sean O’Malley (x2), Umar Nurmagomedov and a trio of former champions in Henry Cejudo, Petr Yan and Jose Aldo.
Dvalishvili, who has recently intimated that he won’t be tempted to move up a division as has been vogue for champion in the UFC ranks lately, has now defeated each of the top seven ranked fighters at bantamweight, with the sole exception of Song Yadong who last competed in February where he scored a career best win over Henry Cejudo.
