Cory Sandhagen

Overview

Five of Cory Sandhagen's six UFC losses came on the scorecards, and the exception was a 1:28 submission against Aljamain Sterling. No knockout losses, one submission loss, and a five-round main-event résumé that includes wins over elite opposition. The bantamweight is 11-6 in the UFC and 18-7 as a pro across all promotions, and he carries a two-fight losing streak into his next fight.

UFC Career

Sandhagen debuted in January 2018 with a second-round TKO of Austin Arnett and followed it with a second-round stoppage of Iuri Alcantara. A first-round submission of Mario Bautista came next, then a split decision over John Lineker, one of the elite opponents of his career, and a unanimous decision over Raphael Assuncao. That was a five-fight win streak, his longest in the UFC.

Aljamain Sterling ended it. The submission loss at UFC 250 lasted 1:28, the only time Sandhagen has been finished in the UFC.

The rebound was fast. He headlined against Marlon Moraes and won by second-round TKO, then stopped Frankie Edgar in 28 seconds of the first round. Then came a stretch of five-round fights: a split decision loss to TJ Dillashaw in a main event, a unanimous loss to Petr Yan, and a fourth-round TKO of Song Yadong. Back-to-back main events followed, a split decision over Marlon Vera and a unanimous decision over Rob Font.

Umar Nurmagomedov beat him by unanimous decision in another five-round main event. Sandhagen answered with a second-round TKO of Deiveson Figueiredo, his fourth win over an elite opponent by our model's tiers. Then a title fight with Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 320 went five rounds and ended in a unanimous decision loss. His most recent fight, at UFC 329, was a three-round unanimous decision loss to Bautista, the man he had submitted in 2019.

Eleven wins. Six losses, five of them on the scorecards.

Fighting Style

Sandhagen is a high-volume striker. He lands strikes at a pace well above most of the UFC, and his accuracy, defense and the damage he takes all sit close to the UFC average. He wins the output battle without paying an unusual price for it.

His grappling profile is lopsided. He is hard to take down, but he rarely shoots for takedowns himself and almost never hunts for submissions. That makes the Bautista submission in 2019 the outlier.

The finishing pattern is clear. Six of his seven UFC finishes are knockouts, and four of those came in round two. Two finishes came in the first round, the Edgar knockout and the Bautista submission. The remaining TKO came in round four, against Song Yadong.

Notable Wins

• Deiveson Figueiredo — KO/TKO, round 2 (4:08), UFC Fight Night: Sandhagen vs Figueiredo (2025)
• Song Yadong — KO/TKO, round 4, UFC Fight Night: Sandhagen vs. Song (2022)
• Marlon Vera — split decision, round 5, UFC Fight Night: Vera vs. Sandhagen (2023)
• John Lineker — split decision, round 3, UFC Fight Night: Jacare vs. Hermansson (2019)

Quick Facts

• Division: Bantamweight
• UFC record: 11-6 (7 finishes: 6 KO/TKO, 1 submission)
• Professional record, all promotions: 18-7-0
• UFC debut: 2018
• Stance: Switch
• Height and reach: 5'11", 70" reach
• Team: Tiger Beetle Martial Arts
• Born: Aurora, CO, United States