Cory Sandhagen opens up on why his fight with Dominick Cruz fell apart
Dominick Cruz is set to compete for bantamweight title once again on May 9. It will be Cruz’s first fight since losing his championship in December 2016.
Prior to the announcement of his title fight against Henry Cejudo, there was rumors that Cruz would return against Cory Sandhagen.
MMA on SiriusXM shared a brief clip of an interview with Sanhagen, who was interviewed by Luke Thomas. In the clip, Sandhagen admitted that the UFC was trying to figure out where to go within the division.
Originally the UFC was looking at booking Marlon Moraes vs Petr Yan and Aljamain Sterling vs Sandhagen. All of sudden Cruz then inserted his name into the picture and Sanhagen’s agent said the UFC was looking into a Cruz vs Sandhagen match up.
“My agent called me and said ‘Hey, Cruz said that he’s fighting in San Diego and that the UFC likes you and him,” said Sandhagen. “So I don’t even know if he was offered the fight or what.”
When the fight was seven or eight weeks out, Sandhagen’s agent said Cruz had changed his mind on the fight. Sandhagen was looking forward to fighting the former champion, but understands why Cruz wouldn’t want to fight him.
“I think that – which may or may not be the case because I don’t think that if you beat me, you’re getting a title shot right afterwards and I think that’s what Cruz was looking for.”
Cory Sandhagen (12-1) is currently ranked No. 4 in the UFC bantamweight rankings after posting a perfect 5-0 record in the UFC. He hasn’t fought yet in 2020.
