The UFC Bantamweight division is in an interesting spot with Sean O’Malley as the champion of the division. He recently successfully his first title defense after he beat Marlon Vera in a rather impressive manner. Cory has his eyes set on the title but it will be quite some time before he gets a chance to get his hands on the strap.
Cory Sandhagen was seen giving his two cents on what’s going to happen when O’Malley finally takes on the chain-wrestler Merab Dvalishvili.
Cory Sandhagen backs Sean O’Malley for his potential fight
Sean O’Malley fought in the UFC 299 where he put up a clinic when he out struck Marlon Vera in the main event of the previous pay-per-view. Sandhagen gave his take on who’s gonna win if O’Malley and Merab face off in a potential bout in the near future. In a video posted by Full Mount MMA Cory said,
I think O’Malley has a really good shot at clipping Merab and finishing him. That’s never really a good place to put all your eggs in a basket. That’s not a super reliable way to win. But, it’s reliable for O’Malley usually. So, I think if you have to start standing against O’Malley for five rounds and he’s that much better of a striker than Merab. Merab is a far superior wrestler and grappler than O’Malley is, but O’Malley is a far superior striker, so that makes it really interesting. Also just the style Merab has in grappling, he doesn’t really hold people down. He kind of lets them work back up and so if I was Merab, I would try and stick him to the mat and keep him there. If I was O’Malley, I would use that first minute of each round to really do what he did to Sterling and pinpoint, and missile this guy from a far. So, I can see O’Malley winning.
Cory made it clear that he thinks Sean is going to finish O’Malley in their potential fight. He gave props to Merab for being a much better wrestler but he gave some massive props to O’Malley for being a far superior striker. Merab made it clear that he has got a much better chance to catch Sean O’Malley on the feet.
He pointed to the fact that Merab takes his opponents down but is unable to hold them down for an extended period of time. He also advised Merab to pin Sean down on the mat and not let him up even if he tries. He claimed Sean’s only way of winning the bout is to maintain distance and snipe him on the feet. Cory who is himself a decent striker would absolutely love to scrap against the either of the two.
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After Merab many would agree that Sandhagen should be next for the champion. It remains to be seen what happens in the Bantamweight title picture. Sean O’Malley and Merab will be slated to fight later this year and their matchup is going to attract a ton of eyeballs given the stylistic difference which is set to give us the potential fight of the year contender.
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