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Cory Sandhagen is scheduled for an MRI this week to determine the extent of the injury sustained during Mario Bautista's submission attempt. The injury forced Sandhagen to limp through the final two rounds of their UFC 329 bout.
On Monday, the bantamweight veteran took to Instagram to display a gruesome injury to the back of his leg. This occurred after Bautista applied a Suloev stretch before transitioning to a kneebar right at the end of the first round. As soon as Sandhagen stood up, he was visibly limping back to his corner between rounds.
Ultimately, Bautista secured a unanimous decision victory, solidified by dropping Sandhagen in the third and final round. All three judges scored the bout identically, 29-28.
"Damn, big failure. Losing in combat sports is the most embarrassing thing in the world. It sucks," Sandhagen wrote on Instagram. "I'm almost certain the kneebar tore my hamstring in the first round (I'll get an MRI this week). My leg kept locking up strangely if I did certain things. That really messed up my game plan."
"Props to Mario. He was well-prepared. The first round was competitive, but he won it with that kneebar. I won the second (surprisingly, because my leg was messed up). In the third, I wanted to have the same round as the previous one, but I got dropped. You have to fight almost perfectly to win at the top. Something I need to get better at."
The fight was a chance for redemption for Bautista, who lost his UFC debut when he faced Sandhagen on short notice in 2019. This time, Bautista showed significant improvement both on the feet and on the ground, and managed to get the job done against Sandhagen in the rematch.
Sandhagen, a consistent threat to anyone in the 135-pound division, now holds a 1-3 record in his last four fights following the UFC 329 loss. Prior to this, he suffered decision defeats to Merab Dvalishvili and Umar Nurmagomedov. Sandhagen now awaits the final diagnosis of his injuries to determine when he can compete again.
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