Tasked with defending his spot atop the bantamweight rankings against a late-replacement opponent, Cory Sandhagen did just that on Saturday to the dismay of the booing crowd inside Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee.
In the main event of a UFC Fight Night card, Sandhagen (17-4) put on a five-round wrestling clinic against Rob Font (20-7), who replaced Umar Nurmagomedov on three weeks' notice. Sandhagen mixed in just enough offense from top position to avoid being stood up throughout and took home identical judges' scores of 50-45 for this third straight win since losing an interim title bout against Petr Yan in 2021.
Sandhagen, 31, who revealed after the fight that injuries forced him to grapple, now joins Merab Dvalishvili as bantamweights hoping to face the winner of the Aug. 19 title bout at UFC 292 in Boston when Aljamain Sterling defends his title against Sean O'Malley.
"Hey Nashville, I wanted to put a more exciting fight on. I have been dealing with a lot of elbow problems recently and I think I tore my tricep in the first round," Sandhagen said. "I know, boo away, I'm sorry. It was technical as hell. I'm a wrestler now, a little bit. So, sorry.
"Sterling and O'Malley, I'll see you guys in Boston. I've got next. Who else would I ask for?"
The @CorySandhagen gameplan tonight is clear and effective! #UFCNashville pic.twitter.com/DFiM5FwfRZ
— UFC (@ufc) August 6, 2023
Font, 36, was originally scheduled to face Song Yadong at UFC 292 until Nurmagomedov's injury opened up a bigger fight. But fresh off snapping a one-year layoff with a knockout of Adrian Yanez in April, Font was never in the fight against Sandhagen at any point.
Early takedowns in all five rounds allowed Sandhagen extended control time from top position. Font defended well from the bottom and never took much punishment, which fueled the crowd's urge to boo the action beginning in Round 2.
At the close of Round 3, a frustrated Font was repeatedly told to "Wake the f--- up" by head trainer Tyson Chartier, but Sandhagen snuffed out Font's increased aggression to start Round 4 and put him on his back once more.
The crowd began to taunt referee Jason Herzog with chants of "stand them up" in Round 4 but it never fazed Sandhagen. Font later fought off a pair of D'Arce choke attempts in Round 5 and briefly locked in a triangle choke attempt from the bottom against Sandhagen in the closing seconds of the fight.
