Cory Sandhagen doesn’t train with just anybody, and he sees something special in Elias Rodriguez.
The 25-year-old Rodriguez looks to make it 4-0 in the pro ranks when he faces eight-fight veteran Nick Fields on Friday at LFA 230. Rodriguez has stopped all three of his opponents inside of two rounds.
Sandhagen has followed Rodriguez’s MMA journey from the very beginning, and recognized he was special immediately. In fact, Sandhagen believes Rodriguez is ready for the big show right now.
“I love Elias, me and Elias are good friends now,” Sandhagen told MMA Fighting. “I think we started training a lot together probably around COVID times, just because we’re only allowed to have a certain amount of training partners and I’ve kind of always done a really good job in my career of like figuring out which young fighter is pretty talented, but also is going to be at the gym as much as me and all of that stuff, because those guys are pretty easy to get really good, really quick. Instead of having to bounce around and go to 1,000 gyms, I’d rather just make the people around me really good.
“Around COVID time is when we weren’t allowed to have a lot of training partners and that’s when me and Elias really started training together a good chunk of time. He was still really young then – probably still like maybe 18 or 19 or 20, or something around then. But yeah, that’s when we started training and he’s become an absolute killer.I want to get him in the UFC this year. I think that he could easily be, I know that things move really quick and things happen or whatever, but I could easily see him in the top-five, top-10 in the UFC sometime in 2028.
“He’s incredible, man. I think he’s going to go all the way with this thing and I’m pumped to just be there for it. So it’s cool and I got a really good training partner to train with. He’s one of the few guys that I feel like I go with that can really whip my ass if I don’t show up, and even when I do show up on that day, now I feel like he sometimes gets the better of me still. So it’s cool to have someone that can push me in that way too and it’s cool that it’s him, because I felt like I got to just play a small part in making him that good.”
Rodriguez was a wrestler and jiu-jitsu practitioner growing up, but it wasn’t until he was in his late teens where the idea of being an MMA fighter became a thing. After going 5-0 as an amateur — which includes winning and defending a regional title — it was time to make the transition to the pro ranks.
With a pair of knockouts and a submission under his belt during his 3-0 start in LFA, Rodriguez reflects on his journey through the sport, and with Sandhagen as one of his training partners.
“I remember the first time I ever MMA sparred was against Cory and Justin Wetzel, who fights in the PFL now, and it was during COVID time. I was like 19, and they whooped my ass so bad. They weren’t even trying. I got dropped to the body so many times. I thought I was nasty.
“And now just to hear him say that and how far we’ve come where I was undefeated in my career, I’m still undefeated as a pro, I’m going to remain undefeated this weekend, it’s just nice to kind of hear that progress has been coming to fruition and it’s starting to come to a head now. So it’s really great to hear from Cory.”
When asked who he would compare Rodriguez to that’s currently in the UFC, Sandhagen was nearly at a loss for words, seeing Rodriguez as a fighter who came into the gym with a mirroring mentality to establishing a style that’s unique to only him.
As Rodriguez’s striking game continues to evolve, he compares it to one of the most vicious knockout artists —and one of the few two-division champions — the UFC has seen.
“I think he kind of punches like [Alex] Pereira, I guess – like the, the types of things that he does,” Sandhagen said. “But he fights a little bit lower to the floor and, obviously, it’s a different weight class, so he has to be a little bit more mobile and he’s a little bit faster. But I would say that his striking is, I guess, a little bit like that in the way that he punches, and then the way that he defends himself too.
“But in grappling, I don’t really know that he’s like too many other people. He’s kind of like any 25-year-old gangly guy in that he’ll whip around and make his body do shit that might break my back but won’t break his. So he kind of has that style of jiu-jitsu, it’s kind of a tangly style of jiu-jitsu versus maybe a raw-strength, power-through-someone type of jiu-jitsu. And yeah, I don’t really know who I would compare it to in the UFC that I think would do it justice because Elias is a super good grappler. But, man,I’m telling you right now, when he gets into the UFC just because of the way that he fights and because of the level of opponents that he’s grown up sparring against and stuff like that, it’s not going to be long until the entire UFC, and big portions of the world are going to know about him, because he has that style that’s fun to watch, and the dude likes getting finishes too.”
Rodriguez is not a fighter who feels he needs more experience before he makes his mark in the UFC. In fact, if the UFC called him right now for a short-notice fight, he would jump on the opportunity.
First things first, Rodriguez has an opportunity to open more eyes as he competes for LFA for the fourth time — an organization that has become one of the UFC’s top feeder promotions.
“I think I can beat people in the UFC for sure,” Rodriguez said. “100 percent, I know I can do that. I think I know how big of a fish I am in the ponds, and I got to work my way up as much as I need to do that, but I know this: I watched the fights, I watched the 45ers. I watched the guys at the top and I know I can beat those guys.”
Read the full article here
