Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight Cory
Sandhagen’s hamstring is a mess after his loss against Mario
Bautista.
Sandhagen (18-7) took on Bautista (18-3) in a bantamweight bout at
UFC 329 in Las Vegas. While they were going toe-to-toe in the
first round, Bautista caught Sandhagen in a kneebar late in the
round, hyperextending his left leg. While “The Sandman” survived
the round, he immediately informed his corner that his leg was
compromised.
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Despite Sandhagen’s movement being evidently limited, he
surprisingly out-landed Bautista in the second round. The latter
then dropped Sandhagen in the third frame and accumulated control
time to earn a unanimous decision win.
Sandhagen details how a suspected hamstring tear altered his
game plan
Sandhagen has since revealed a gruesome injury to his hamstring
from Bautista’s submission attempt. He believes he tore his
hamstring in the opening round, limiting his arsenal for the rest
of the fight. The 34-year-old notes that fighting at the top level
allows little margin of error.
“Frickin bummer man. Losing in fighting is the most embarrassing
thing ever. Sucks,” Sandhagen wrote on Instagram. “Pretty sure the
kneebar tore my hamstring in the first (getting MRI this week). It
kept locking out weird if I did certain things. So that kind of
messed up my game plan. Congrats to Mario. He was well prepared.
1st was close but he won it with that knee bar. 2nd, I won
(surprisingly cause leg was jacked). 3rd, I wanted to have the same
round as before but got dropped. Gotta fight near perfect to win at
the top. Something I need to get better at. Appreciate the love
from you guys. Enjoy your week. Love you. Peace.”
This was Sandhagen’s second loss on the trot, following a failed
title bid against Merab
Dvalishvili this past October. Meanwhile, Bautista has only
lost to Umar
Nurmagomedov in 11 outings since 2022 and has since rebounded
with back-to-back wins.