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Corey Sandhagen's road to a bantamweight title shot took a violent step forward on Saturday in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night in Las Vegas. 

Sandhagen (14-2) scored his second straight viral knockout when his jumping right knee caught Frankie Edgar (24-9-1) flush on the chin and sent the former lightweight champion face first to the canvas. The savage finish took place just 28 seconds into the fight as the 28-year-old Sandhagen made a massive statement to the rest of the 135-pound division.

"I was excited to show off my wrestling skills because everyone knows I suck at that," Sandhagen said. "But I'll take that."

The knockout was the second fastest from a flying knee in UFC history, trailing only Jorge Masvidal's iconic five-second finish of Ben Askren in 2019. But the jarring image of Edgar, a 39-year-old living legend, unconscious before he even hit the ground left Sandhagen unable to celebrate.

"It feels good, man, but that's Frankie Edgar," Sandhagen said. "I don't want to watch that happen to him but better him than me. That's the game we are in."

Sandhagen improved to 9-1 over his last 10 fights and continued his upward projection from an 88-second submission loss in 2020 that propelled Aljamain Sterling into a title shot against champion Petr Yan that will finally take place on March 6 at UFC 259. 

Just four months after Sandhagen was blindsided by Sterling's quick finish in their No. 1 contender bout, he rebounded to finish former title challenger Marlon Moraes via spinning wheel kick.

"I'm a different monster than the one I was before I fought Aljamain Sterling. He taught me some lessons," Sandhagen said. "I know Yan has been talking about fighting TJ [Dillashaw] and I don't know if he actually wins that fight [against Sterling]. That's garbage to me. Fight me, I'm the toughest guy next to Aljamain and if Aljamain wins, I owe him a nap. He's going to get that nap and the winner of those get knocked out by me next in July."

Sandhagen was patient in the early going by circling away and landing outside leg strikes to offset Edgar's high pace. Yet the fight's finishing strike landed abruptly just as Sandhagen, who entered with a five-inch height advantage, perfectly timed Edgar coming forward. 

Edgar suffered his first loss since moving down to bantamweight and fell to 2-4 since 2018.