Pragmatic and without questions, Umar dismantles Sandhagen and launches into the race for the belt
August 4, 2024, 01:27 Moscow time Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.
Nurmagomedov answered all questions about title prospects.
On the evening of August 4, the UFC on ABC 7 tournament took place in Abu Dhabi, the main event of which was the bantamweight bout between Corey Sandhagen and Umar Nurmagomedov.
This fight was supposed to take place a year ago, but then Umar withdrew due to a shoulder injury, and Sandhagen fought Rob Font. After that, Corey himself went for treatment and remained inactive for the whole year. In general, Sandhagen came to the tournament on a three-win streak: Sandman successively faced Song Yadong, Marlon Vera and Font. This allowed Corey to rise to second place in the bantamweight division rankings. But before getting the title, it remained to face a dangerous obstacle in the person of Umar. Even before the fight, Sandhagen stated that he would apologize to Khabib Nurmagomedov for the victory over his brother.
Before this fight, Umar had not fought with representatives of the top 15 in his weight class, but behind the undefeated Russian he had a record of 17-0 and not a single round lost! In the last fight, Nurmagomedov met with debutant Bekzat Almakhan. The Dagestani suffered a sudden fall, but in the end he outplayed his opponent and confidently won by unanimous decision. And the fight with Sandhagen was supposed to be Umar’s ticket to a title fight. True, due to the lack of experience in five-round fights, especially with such experienced opponents, they doubted Nurmagomedov. But he was very confident in himself.
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Sandhagen took the center of the octagon and the fighters exchanged kicks. Umar scored a takedown at the first opportunity, but was unable to gain a foothold behind his back. Corey began to apply pressure again and Nurmagomedov looked for opportunities to counterattack, sometimes quite successfully. In the standing position, the Russian did not give in and at the end of the round he secured everything with an imminent takedown. In the first minute of the second segment, Umar again tried to take the back, but when the distance was broken, Sandhagen shot dangerously and then started a couple of tough exchanges.
Nurmagomedov engaged his opponent with strong kicks and at the end of the round he almost caught Corey making a mistake, turning his back. The American landed some good shots, but Umar worked with more emphasis.
Nurmagomedov continued to act as number two, but there were a minimal number of punches from both. The fighters focused more on neutralizing each other. At the same time, it must be said that Sandhagen defended himself well from the fight, not allowing Umar to gain a foothold in the top positions. And there were plenty of attempts on the part of the Russian. At the beginning of the fourth round, Nurmagomedov caught Corey several times when he was launching aggressive attacks. In addition, Umar’s jabs and kicks worked well. Sandhagen increased his aggression, but lost episode after episode in the exchanges. Nurmagomedov was faster and more accurate. At the end of the round, the native of Dagestan consolidated his advantage with a successful takedown.
Umar started the final round calmly, waiting for Sandhagen to attack. Corey tried to fight back himself, of course, without success. In the standing position, Nurmagomedov continued to calmly dismount his opponent, and then took the fight to the ground and took a dominant position, from which he did not allow him to leave and brought the matter to the final gong.
Sandhagen can be praised for doing a great job in defense, but Umar showed excellent positioning and confidently faced a dangerous opponent. And in general, Nurmagomedov did a great job, breathing easy during the five rounds and deservedly launches himself into the title race.
