2024-08-05 06:24:19
Umar Nurmagomedov – Corey Sandhagen Fight Report
Nurmagomedov answered all questions about title prospects.
As reported by İdman.biz with reference to “Championship”, on the night of August 4, the UFC on ABC 7 tournament was held in Abu Dhabi, the main event of which was a contender fight in the bantamweight category between Cory Sandhagen and Umar Nurmagomedov.
This fight was supposed to take place a year ago, but then Umar dropped out due to a shoulder injury, and Sandhagen fought off Rob Font. After that, Corey himself went to treatment and was idle for the whole year. In general, Sandhagen approached the tournament on a series of three victories – the Sandman consecutively dealt with Song Yadong, Marlon Vera and Font. This allowed Corey to rise to the second line in the ranking of the bantamweight division. But before getting the title, it remained to deal with a dangerous obstacle in the person of Umar. Sandhagen even before the fight claimed that he would apologize to Khabib Nurmagomedov for the victory over his brother.
Umar had not fought with representatives of the top-15 in his weight class before this fight, but the undefeated Russian has 17-0 and has not lost a single round! In his last fight, Nurmagomedov met debutant Bekzat Almakhan. The Dagestani suffered a flash knockdown, but ultimately outworked his opponent, confidently winning by unanimous decision. And the fight with Sandhagen was supposed to be Umar’s ticket to a title fight. However, due to the lack of experience in five-round fights, especially with such experienced opponents, there were doubts about Nurmagomedov. But he was extremely confident in himself.
Sandhagen took the center of the octagon, and the fighters exchanged kicks. Umar got a takedown at the first opportunity, but was unable to secure his back. Corey began to press again, and Nurmagomedov looked for chances to counterattack – sometimes quite successfully. The Russian did not give in in the standing position, and at the end of the round he secured everything with a counter takedown. In the first minute of the second segment, Umar again tried to take his back, but when the distance was broken, Sandhagen threw a dangerous punch, and then initiated a couple of tough exchanges.
Nurmagomedov met his opponent with hard kicks and at the end of the round almost caught Corey on a mistake, taking his back. The American had some good hits, but Umar worked more pointedly.
Nurmagomedov continued to act as the second number, but the number of blows from both was minimal. The fighters focused more on neutralizing each other. It should be said that Sandhagen defended himself well from the fight, not allowing Umar to gain a foothold in the top positions. And there were many attempts from the Russian. At the beginning of the fourth round, Nurmagomedov caught Corey several times when he was moving into aggressive attacks. Plus, Umar’s jab and kicks worked well. Sandhagen added aggression, but lost episode after episode in exchanges. Nurmagomedov was faster and more accurate. At the end of the round, the native of Dagestan secured the advantage with a successful takedown.
Umar began the final round calmly, waiting for Sandhagen to attack. Corey tried to wrestle himself – of course, unsuccessfully. In the standing position, Nurmagomedov continued to calmly dismantle his opponent, and then transferred the fight to the ground and took a dominant position, from which he did not allow anyone to escape and brought the matter to the final bell.
Sandhagen deserves credit for doing a great job on defense, but Umar showed great performance on the feet and confidently dealt with a dangerous opponent. And overall, Nurmagomedov did a great job, breathing calmly for all five rounds and deservedly bursts into the title race.
İdman.biz