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- Jan 30, 2015
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Sterling has improved his striking but I think this is a tough match up for him on the feet.
Sterling makes good use of his length but Sandhagen is taller and longer. Sterling likes to use his front kicks to keep guys away from him but I think they’re going to be less effective against a guy like Sandhagen who can throw kicks back at him from further away. Sandhagen has a very good low kick and we saw Munhoz have success with this against Sterling.
Sterling finds himself on the backfooot often and Sandhagen is a very good pressure fighter. Sandhagen has a sick left hook to the body and is relentless when he pressures. He will throw the flying knee regularly and is pretty good in tight, despite being so long. Neither guy is known for their boxing but when I factor in body attacks Sandhagen has better hands imo. I’d probably give him the edge in terms of just the ability to hit the head too. Sandhagen’s cardio looks very good and I think he has a pretty decent advantage in that area. I don’t think Sterling’s cardio is particularly great.
I think Sterling is going to have to mix in grappling if he wants this win. Sandhagen has bad TDD stats but when Assuncao took him down Sandhagen was fine and scrambled very well. Sandhagen nearly got submitted against Iuri but that was right at the start of the fight and Iuri sets up submissions from weird submissions. Sandhagen’s grappling looks to be very good. His TDD might not be up to much, but Sterling doesn’t have the best takedowns. I also don’t think Sandhagen has exactly been putting in maximum effort when attempting to defend takedowns.
So my prediction is that Sandhagen gets the better of it on the feet and probably wins by decision, not stoppage. I’d be surprised if Sterling could simply win a kickboxing match. If Sterling can’t get the grappling going I think he’s going to have a hard time on the feet, especially in rounds 2 and 3.
Sterling makes good use of his length but Sandhagen is taller and longer. Sterling likes to use his front kicks to keep guys away from him but I think they’re going to be less effective against a guy like Sandhagen who can throw kicks back at him from further away. Sandhagen has a very good low kick and we saw Munhoz have success with this against Sterling.
Sterling finds himself on the backfooot often and Sandhagen is a very good pressure fighter. Sandhagen has a sick left hook to the body and is relentless when he pressures. He will throw the flying knee regularly and is pretty good in tight, despite being so long. Neither guy is known for their boxing but when I factor in body attacks Sandhagen has better hands imo. I’d probably give him the edge in terms of just the ability to hit the head too. Sandhagen’s cardio looks very good and I think he has a pretty decent advantage in that area. I don’t think Sterling’s cardio is particularly great.
I think Sterling is going to have to mix in grappling if he wants this win. Sandhagen has bad TDD stats but when Assuncao took him down Sandhagen was fine and scrambled very well. Sandhagen nearly got submitted against Iuri but that was right at the start of the fight and Iuri sets up submissions from weird submissions. Sandhagen’s grappling looks to be very good. His TDD might not be up to much, but Sterling doesn’t have the best takedowns. I also don’t think Sandhagen has exactly been putting in maximum effort when attempting to defend takedowns.
So my prediction is that Sandhagen gets the better of it on the feet and probably wins by decision, not stoppage. I’d be surprised if Sterling could simply win a kickboxing match. If Sterling can’t get the grappling going I think he’s going to have a hard time on the feet, especially in rounds 2 and 3.