Cory Sandhagen Confident in Cardio, Defensive Wrestling Ahead of UFC 320

[Kung Fu Kowboy]

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Much of the analysis regarding the UFC 320 co-main event involves how Cory Sandhagen will be able to combat Merab Dvalishvili’s relentless cardio and grappling.

However, Sandhagen sees things differently. He believes that he is the problem that the reigning bantamweight champion has to solve on Saturday at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.


“Merab is going to have to deal with me,” Sandhagen told UFC.com. “I'm not dealing with Merab this fight. There will be some of that, and there will be some adversity that I'm sure that I'm going to have to face in this fight, but Merab is dealing with me. It's not going to be the other way around.”

During his rise to the top of the division, Dvalishvili has lived up to his moniker of “The Machine” by overwhelming foes with takedowns and positional dominance. The Georgian hasn’t been forced to rely on his standup too often, but Sandhagen knows the tone of the fight will change if he can remain upright.


“If I don't let him do those things to me, then Merab is striking with me,” he said. “Unless his striking has gotten a lot better, it’s going to be a really hard night for him.”

Sandhagen is also extremely confident in his own gas tank.

“… Not once in a fight have I felt incredibly fatigued the way that I've seen some of his other opponents be,” he added. “Not once in a fight have I been on my back for longer than 10 seconds unless it was something that I was trying to do, so you take those two things off the table, which I've proven time and time again that I'm very good at, and Merab doesn't have a lot of routes to victory, and I have a lot of them.

“It's going to be my night. I'm going to be champ.”

Sandhagen: This is My Path​

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Cory Sandhagen Confident in Cardio, Defensive Wrestling Ahead of UFC 320

Much of the analysis regarding the UFC 320 co-main event involves how Cory Sandhagen will be able to combat Merab Dvalishvili’s relentless cardio and grappling.

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[FriskyRandy]

Im confident he doesnt win a round.

 

[usernamee]

I don't remember much great defensive wrestling from him in his career. He seems more content to try and scramble his way out of grappling exchanges rather than commit to a strong TDD. Which will be terrible against Merab.

 

[Arm Barbarian]

Merab is likely going to wrestle the brakes clean off him.

His main chance is landing something like a knee when Merab shoots on him.

 

[biscuitsbrah]

He looked ok against Umar. Wouldn’t be surprised if he pulls it off. Gotta give the physicality to Merab though

 

[Rampage_Jackson]

Merab isn't even a good wrestler. Cory is a live dog. People act like Merab is unbeatable lol.

 

[Mike]

Cory is always confident before going out and losing the same way he always does.

 

[MMACro]

Merab isn't even a good wrestler.

Uhm yes he is,like very good
And who is better at wrestling at his division btw?

 

[mkess101]

Im confident he doesnt win a round.

Holy shit I wish you were a sportsbook that offered odds on that.

 

[mkess101]

I don't remember much great defensive wrestling from him in his career. He seems more content to try and scramble his way out of grappling exchanges rather than commit to a strong TDD. Which will be terrible against Merab.

Why terrible? Cory is a damn good grappler and scrambling is one way he can get back to striking.

People sleeping on Cory here. Nobody that Merab has fought also has A+ cardio. Cory looks like he does, he ups his activity as fights go on. So breaking Cory via pace probably isn't happening. And that takes the weaponized cardio aspect out of play.

I think a lot of people gonna be surprised that this isn't some easy win for Merab.

 

[Hymen Crusher]

I mean what else can he say. I know im going to get worked over by this beastly gremlin motherfucker

 

[Portland8242]

Why terrible? Cory is a damn good grappler and scrambling is one way he can get back to striking.

People sleeping on Cory here. Nobody that Merab has fought also has A+ cardio. Cory looks like he does, he ups his activity as fights go on. So breaking Cory via pace probably isn't happening. And that takes the weaponized cardio aspect out of play.

I think a lot of people gonna be surprised that this isn't some easy win for Merab.

Hard to say dude I think you may be underrating Merab's scrambling ability a bit. I don't think he can just rely on outscrambling him everytime he scores takedowns on him, might work once or twice but more likely than not it's going to lead to a bunch of control time and lost rounds.

 

[ExitLUPin]

Why terrible? Cory is a damn good grappler and scrambling is one way he can get back to striking.

People sleeping on Cory here. Nobody that Merab has fought also has A+ cardio. Cory looks like he does, he ups his activity as fights go on. So breaking Cory via pace probably isn't happening. And that takes the weaponized cardio aspect out of play.

I think a lot of people gonna be surprised that this isn't some easy win for Merab.

Yan doesn't have A+ cardio? He does better the later fights go. I think he's won every round 4/5 besides the Merab fight actually.

Won 4/5 against Cory himself, Fig, Aljo (was looking like he was on his way to a KO before kneegate, and won 4/5 in the rematch), Aldo.

Cory lost rounds 4/5 to Umar who we found out couldn't keep up the pace and output of Merab over 25 minutes.

Even if Cory has A+ cardio he's still human. Merab has borderline superhuman cardio. This guy threw 400 strikes and shot 49 TDs against Yan. That is historically staggering, freakish output. Merab has the best conditioning we've ever seen in MMA. Whoever is 2nd is not all that close.

 

[HNIC215]

Cory is a beast!

Good luck to him, he will need it.

 

[mkess101]

Hard to say dude I think you may be underrating Merab's scrambling ability a bit. I don't think he can just rely on outscrambling him everytime he scores takedowns on him, might work once or twice but more likely than not it's going to lead to a bunch of control time and lost rounds.

My guess is it will be a mixed bag. I definitely am not underrating Merab's scrambling, I don't think Cory wins every grappling exchange or anything but he's way better than he's getting credit for. He may lose, but he will make this a dogfight.

 

[mkess101]

Yan doesn't have A+ cardio? He does better the later fights go. I think he's won every round 4/5 besides the Merab fight actually.

Won 4/5 against Cory himself, Fig, Aljo (was looking like he was on his way to a KO before kneegate, and won 4/5 in the rematch), Aldo.

Cory lost rounds 4/5 to Umar who we found out couldn't keep up the pace and output of Merab over 25 minutes.

Even if Cory has A+ cardio he's still human. Merab has borderline superhuman cardio. This guy threw 400 strikes and shot 49 TDs against Yan. That is historically staggering, freakish output. Merab has the best conditioning we've ever seen in MMA. Whoever is 2nd is not all that close.

We'll see. I think it's "styles make fights". Merab weaponizes cardio, and I agree he's by far the best we've ever seen at it. But while pushing a grueling pace and forcing guys to just defend it can break (or at least frustrate like in the case of Yan where he wasn't really broken but couldn't get anything going) almost everyone, I don't think we'll see that here. Cory may lose, (although I think he's way more live than the odds say) but he will make this interesting. Won't be easy for Merab.

 

[JoeRowe]

Why terrible? Cory is a damn good grappler and scrambling is one way he can get back to striking.

People sleeping on Cory here. Nobody that Merab has fought also has A+ cardio. Cory looks like he does, he ups his activity as fights go on. So breaking Cory via pace probably isn't happening. And that takes the weaponized cardio aspect out of play.

I think a lot of people gonna be surprised that this isn't some easy win for Merab.

Umar broke him with pace and grappling, Merab broke Umar with pace and grappling. Cory's best bet is to time a knee on a Merab shot because he's not going to stuff the TDs. Nobody at BW can until Merab gets old.

 

[ChrisBenoit]

Im confident he doesnt win a round.

This. I keep seeing this narrative here that he's a live dog but I just don't see it. Would be surprised if Cory wins more than one round but I expect a clean sweep

 

[Mmmmmmma1234]

Cory caught Edgar with a flying knee, do hopefully that's all hes been training for this fight it's literally his only path to victory.

 

[bng]

Shaggy thought that Fred team up'ed with Velma and Daphne to "find criminals" while they actually fucked
and Sandhugger thinks Me-rub gonna do a striking exhibition match with him while Sandhugger gets actually wrestlefucked

Is Sandhugger and Shaggy is the same person?