Cory Sandhagen is doing everything he can to get the fight he wants.
In October, Sandhagen challenged Merab Dvalishvili for the UFC bantamweight title, losing via dominant decision at UFC 320. After recovering from the loss, Sandhagen started to call for matchup with former champion Sean O’Malley, perhaps at UFC White House, but has gained little traction on that front from “Suga,” and he’s starting to get frustrated.
On Thursday, Sandhagen dropped a callout video on his Instagram with the caption “Fight me bro,” trashing O’Malley.
“Yo, what’s up guys? Pay attention, because I’m about to breakdown why the UFC is going to miss out on one of the biggest fights they can put on the White House card right now, and it’s because O’Malley’s being a little entitled bitch.’”
The video then intersperses several clips of O’Malley reluctantly speaking about fighting Sandhagen, with response clips mocking his answers. At the end of the video, Sandhagen shows a clip of O’Malley saying outright if they UFC approached him about the fight, he would ask if he can simply wait to fight the winner of the presumed title trilogy fight between Petr Yan and Merab Dvalishvili
“That’s not how it works,” Sandhagen said, bemusedly, before ending with one final clip of O’Malley being noncommittal, prompting a final response from Sandhagen. “Fight me! Frick! [Shoots the bird].”
Sandhagen then ends the video with dinosaurs playing a heavy metal song.
A former bantamweight champion, O’Malley lost his title to Dvalishvili in 2024, and then lost his immediate rematch last year, getting submitted in the third round. He rebounded with a win over Song Yadong in January at UFC 324
Act I. Dana White: ‘It’s not personal’ with Eddie Hearn but he started this fight and he was ‘acting like a p*ssy.’
Act II. UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall signs with Eddie Hearn: ‘Time to get what’s yours.’
Act III. Dana White reacts to Tom Aspinall signing with Eddie Hearn for representation.
Assault. ‘Arman Tsarukyan has not been banned’: RAF exec provides clarity, reveals timeframe for rematch with Georgio Poullas.
$$$$. UFC owners announce $150 million dividend payouts to investors for first quarter of 2026.
Beef. Misfits champion Carla Jade slaps ex-UFC fighter Pearl Gonzalez during heated faceoff.
Fighters react to their highlights.
Your truly reacting to the Aspinall news. I was tired.
SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE
Not what we expected, but business nonetheless.
Sir, Dana is 56. That would be childish.
Honestly, the whole thing is surreal.
Arman and Khamzat training together.
As savage a takedown as you will ever see of someone.
Raufeon Stots (21-3) vs. Renat Khavalov (11-0); PFL Chicago, April 11.
Look, I’m not going to lie to y’all, I wanted to write about that call out video because of the dinosaurs. In a world where every MMA fighter is trying to be either Conor McGregor or Colby Covington, Sandhagen is going weird, and I respect that immensely.
If you find something you’d like to see in the Morning Report, hit up @AlexanderKLee of @JedKMeshew on Twitter and let us know about it. Also, follow MMAFighting on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Twitch, and like us on Facebook.
Read the full article here
