“Aljamain had to retreat, TJ’s village is still on fire, I’m the guy that can take the land,” Cory Sandhagen on his interim title match at UFC 267

“Aljamain had to retreat, TJ’s village is still on fire, I’m the guy that can take the land,” Cory Sandhagen on his interim title match at UFC 267

Cory Sandhagen on UFC 267

Cory Sandhagen is going to face the former bantamweight champion, Petr Yan, for the interim bantamweight title at the co-main event of UFC 267. Originally Yan was supposed to face the champion Aljamain Sterling, but Aljo had to pull out from this fight because of lingering neck issues.

Yan wanted to stay on the card and Cory Sandhagen stepped in to face him for the interim title. Both these athletes are on top of the food chain in their divisions, and they are more than ready to face each other. Sandhagen lost his last fight against the former bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw, but he kept on working hard in the gym because he knew the opportunity would come sooner or later.

When asked about this in a recent interview, he said, “I have been in the gym with like a lot of really big names for really a long time and I know that’s like a really easy way to get a title shot, you know just be more prepared than everyone in the division. So, yeah that was kind of the idea also I know Sterling had mentioned he wanted a fight in November and when I saw the October date, I knew something was not going well for him, and uh that was also just another little thing where I was like this actually could be a very real possibility, so yeah I was staying ready for about 7 weeks before the fight.”

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“I was staying ready for about 7 weeks before the fight,” Cory Sandhagen knew Aljamain Sterling would pull out from UFC 267

Cory Sandhagen
Cory Sandhagen

We have seen people like Justin Gaethje just throwing away the belt, and then people like Dustin Poirier truly believe an interim champion is the fruition of all the hard work an athlete put throughout his lifetime. Cory Sandhagen was asked how he views the interim title, he said.

“Aljamain had to retreat and TJ’s village is still on fire from when I set it on fire, so if we’re talking like ancient warlike stuff which is how I like to view this game it’s just like funner for me to do it that way um I’m the guy that can take the land, those other two guys can’t right now I’m the guy that can take the land so I’ll see myself as champ.”

Also read – “I beat Sandhagen on Saturday, every guy will know who here is really champ,” Petr Yan vows to make a statement at UFC 267