Cory Sandhagen is incredibly confident that Dana White will be wrapping the UFC bantamweight title around his waist on Saturday.
Sandhagen gets his first shot at undisputed gold when he faces champ Merab
Dvalishvili in the co-main event of UFC 320, which takes place at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Dvalishvili enters the bout on a 13-fight win streak, including a pair of successful title defenses in 2025 against Umar Nurmagomedov and Sean O’Malley.
While Sandhagen sits as a huge underdog ahead of the matchup, he feels like he’s checked off all of the boxes in preparation for his big moment.
“I’m pumped for it, man,” Sandhagen told MMA Fighting. I keep saying this. Merab’s ways of winning are wrestling guys and getting guys tired, and you won’t do that to me. I’ve shown that my wrestling has come far enough to where you’re not just going to punk me in wrestling. I’m not going to get tired. I haven’t gotten tired in one of my… I don’t know how many main event fights I’ve had at this point, but I’m used to five rounds. I’ve been training for five rounds for years now, so my body’s conditioned for it.
“I just don’t really see too many paths for Merab to win. He gets people tired and he wrestles them, and he’s not going to be able to do that to me. So we’re going to have a striking fight and I’ve gotten miles and miles better at that as well. I’m hitting harder now. I’m faster, my position is better. Just working with Trevor Wittman over the course of almost two years now has gone a really long way. So, man, whenever I’m going into a fight, I’m like, ‘All right, how’s this guy going to beat me?’ And then you just address all of those things.
“And at this point, the way that I’m training and the way that I’m feeling, and the way that I know I could do everything, I just don’t see a path to victory for Merab. The way I’m doing stuff, man, I just can’t see me losing.”
It’s been a long journey for Sandhagen to get to this point, including losing a close decision to Petr Yan for the interim bantamweight title at UFC 267 in October 2021. Following that defeat, Sandhagen rattled off three straight main event wins over Song Yadong, Marlon Vera, and Rob Font — with the latter keeping him out of action for a year with a torn tricep.
Following the layoff, Sandhagen lost a thrilling decision to Nurmagomedov in the main event of UFC Abu Dhabi in August 2024, and bounced back with a stoppage win over former flyweight champ Deiveson Figueiredo at UFC Des Moines in May.
Despite the rollercoaster ride he’s been on over the past four years, Sandhagen knew his time would come eventually.
“I’ve always been a really strong believer in that if I just keep working my ass off and just keep doing all the right things, and just continue to improve and be the best that I know that I can be, everything will just work itself out,” Sandhagen explained. “And I know that MMA is a crazy sport and anything can happen: People can get hurt timing can line up well, certain guys can get like certain types of fights, can get really pushed and other ones not.
So I just knew it was just going to come eventually as long as I just kept working my butt off and getting better every day, and just every time I go out there fighting with all of my heart and making sure that I’m improving every time and doing my best in each fight that it would pay off. It’s cool that it’s actually happening.”
Dvalishvili’s win streak has been incredible — most notably, his past six victories. “The Machine” defeated former champions Jose Aldo, Petr Yan, and Henry Cejudo before capturing the title over O’Malley at UFC 306 in September 2024. Dvalishvili handed Nurmagomedov his first career loss at UFC 311 in January, and then destroyed O’Malley in their rematch five months later at UFC 316.
When asked if Dvalishvili has earned the title as greatest bantamweight of all-time, Sandhagen isn’t ready to hand him that distinction just yet.
“I don’t know,” Sandhagen said. “Not to get existential, but I think everyone has their own GOATs for things. The best of anything, I think, is a really personal decision. So he’s not my GOAT.
“It is a tough one. I would say, just because he was one of the first guys that I’ve ever watched, I’ll go with Dominick Cruz because he was like one of the very first guys that I ever looked up to in the sport.”
With nearly 16 years of mixed martial arts preparation ahead of his first undisputed UFC title fight, Sandhagen plans to silence the doubters, and write the media’s headlines for them this Saturday when the smoke clears.
“[The headline will read] Sandhagen surprises the world, beats the bantamweight GOAT, and gets to go on his revenge tour in 2026 and take out Umar and Yan,” Sandhagen predicted.
