Cory Sandhagen eyes matchups with former champs Frankie Edgar, Dominick Cruz next

Several pivotal bantamweight matchups were recently booked, but where does that leave Cory Sandhagen?

Undefeated in the UFC, Sandhagen (12-1 MMA, 5-0 UFC) is coming off back-to-back wins over John Lineker and Raphael Assuncao at UFC 241, and there aren’t many people ahead of him in the rankings.

And he has two names in mind for potential next opponents, he’d like to either welcome former lightweight champion Frankie Edgar to 135 pounds, or take on former UFC and WEC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz.

“I would love to fight either Frankie or Cruz,” Sandhagen told MMA Junkie. “UFC wants me to fight this year again and me and my coaches decided that I need to not be in camp so that I can add in more tools and continue getting better without having a fight coming up.”

Recently announced for UFC 245 were matchups between Petr Yan and Urijah Faber, as well as Marlon Moraes vs. Jose Aldo, four opponents that Sandhagen would have been willing to face.

“The bantamweight fights booked for December were all matches I would have liked too,” Sandhagen said. “I knew all those guys were going to want to fight this year because they haven’t fought in a while so I was going to see how things played out, and I think they did a good job. Stylistically those are all interesting match ups.”

And Sandhagen, who’s looking to work on his craft, is in no rush to return to action. However, he does believe that a fight with Edgar or Cruz would make sense not just for him, but for them too if they want to get a shot at bantamweight champ Henry Cejudo.

“So that leaves me with two options, either Frankie or Cruz,” Sandhagen said. “They have nobody else to fight that’s going to do anything for them as far as getting closer to a title. I’d love to fight either one of them early next year, but I’m spending the rest of my year working on new techniques and getting better. I have the long term in mind, so it’s on them if they want to wait. I’m doing what’s going to make me the best when I start to really peak in this sport.”