Cory Sandhagen thinks win over Aljamain Sterling at UFC 250 nets title shot

Cory Sandhagen thinks there is a lot on the line in his upcoming bout.

The bantamweight contender takes on Aljamain Sterling on the pay-per-view main card of UFC 250, which goes down Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The matchup with Sterling is one of several high-profile bantamweight fights on the card. With the promotion looking to book Jose Aldo vs. Petr Yan for the vacant title, fans could see the next contender for the winner of that fight emerge from UFC 250.

Sandhagen (12-1 MMA, 5-0 UFC) certainly thinks so.

“We have so many bantamweight fights on this card that it’s going to be really nice to have a clear-cut, simple, who-looked-better, because all the fights are back-to-back,” Sandhagen told MMA Junkie. “And although Garbrandt is a bigger name, I also think I have an impressive style and I think that my fighting style is really exciting to watch. I think that the UFC is going to see that now that me (vs. Sterling) and (Raphael) Assuncao vs. (Cody) Garbrandt fight is back-to-back to ours. So I’m excited about that.”

UFC 250 has three bantamweight bouts – Sterling vs. Sandhagen, Assuncao vs. Garbrandt and Eddie Wineland vs. Sean O’Malley – all on the main card.

Despite looking ahead and being confident in getting a title shot with an impressive showing against Sterling, Sandhagen knows it won’t be a walk in the park Saturday. In fact, “The Sandman” doesn’t have a clue how things will play out against Sterling given his awkward style.

“I like it – we both bring in the same advantages,” Sandhagen said. “He’s tall and rangy. I like to move my feet, he likes to move his feet. He’s a bit awkward. I think that’s where we maybe differ. He’s a little less technical, but he still makes it work for him.

“There’s a lot of uncertainty going into a fight, like how good of a guy – how good is he actually, really – because that’s sometimes hard to see on film. Sometimes you see guys and think, ‘How is this guy winning time after time?’ Because they don’t look very technical and very impressive, but they’re winning and Aljamian has been wining. So there’s something that has to be tuned that I must not see because on paper, I’m the more impressive fighter. There’s a lot of uncertainty and I feel like it’s going to get cleared up in the first minute or two of the fight, and then we’ll adjust if we have to adjust – or keep doing what we’re doing if that’s what needed.”