Umar Nurmagomedov made his case for a bantamweight title shot on Saturday, outworking Cory Sandhagen to take a unanimous decision win in the main event of UFC Fight Night in Abu Dhabi. The fight was competitive throughout, with Nurmagomedov having to turn mostly to his striking to get the win.
Sandhagen found himself in trouble early in the fight, with Nurmagomedov able to land his first takedown attempt before immediately taking the back as Sandhagen stood. Sandhagen was able to shake Nurmagomedov’s hooks and get back to distance and use his striking. Sandhagen’s confidence continued to grow after he was able to stuff Nurmagomedov’s next takedown attempt. At range, the first round played out fairly evenly, with both men landing leg kicks and occasional punches.
The pace remained high as the fight continued, both having success on the feet and Sandhagen continuing to either defend takedowns or quickly survive and scramble free when Nurmagomedov did manage to take him to the canvas.
Despite Sandhagen’s repeated success dealing with Nurmagomedov’s wrestling, he was not able to expose a large gulf in striking, often allowing Nurmagomedov to control the pace of the fight. By the end of three rounds, Sandhagen’s corner, knowing they could have lost all three rounds on the scorecards, implored their fighter to force the pace and make Nurmagoemdov uncomfortable.
It took until the final half of the fifth round for Nurmagomedov to score a takedown and hold Sandhagen on the ground. That was, in part, because Sandhagen looking to find a submission or some other desperate way to snatch a victory as the seconds ticked away.
That finish didn’t come for the American and despite a tremendous effort in an entertaining fight, he also came up short on the official scorecards, which read 50-45, 49-46, 49-46, all for Nurmagomedov.
“He was more tough than I expected,” Nurmagomedov said after his victory. “This guy is really tough. I think I deserved the win and feel like I beat him in every round. I tried to take him down but he had good defense. I have to believe in myself. For the second round I began to feel I could beat him on striking, too. And I did it.”
Having knocked off the No. 2 ranked fighter in the UFC’s official bantamweight rankings, Nurmagomedov turned his attention to a title shot, calling out the winner of the upcoming bout between Merab Dvalishvili and champion Sean O’Malley.
“It doesn’t matter for me, who is going to be next,” Nurmagomedov said. “Just give me the title shot. Merab or O’Malley. I’m coming for you.”
