UFC Fight Island 5 preview: Cory Sandhagen wants to be Vitruvian Man, not an ‘ugly painting’

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Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) bantamweight title contender Cory Sandhagen was hoping to paint his championship masterpiece at the expense of rival contender Aljamain Sterling as part of the UFC 250 pay-per-view (PPV) event back in June.

Instead, he turned in a shitty watercolor that wasn’t even good enough to hang on his mom’s fridge.

Sandhagen likes to put the “art” in mixed martial arts (MMA) and knows that all will be forgiven, at least in terms of his standing in the official UFC rankings, with a standout performance against Marlon Moraes this weekend on ESPN+.

“You know how I approach these things,” Sandhagen told MMA Junkie at the UFC Fight Island 5 media day. “I approach it a little more like an artist. That was a really ugly painting. I want to show everyone what I’m actually capable of, so I’m excited to do that.”

Prior to his submission loss to Sterling, the 28 year-old Sandhagen racked up five consecutive wins under the UFC banner and seven straight dating back to his co-headlining days for Legacy Fighting Alliance (LFA) in Colorado.

That doesn’t mean his “Funkmaster” loss was a fluke.

“I’m definitely not just writing it off,” Sandhagen said. “There’s a reason that things happen like that – especially something like that where I know I’m not that bad of a grappler. It’s like, something else was going on. I’ve been kind of hesitant to call it because I don’t want it to seem like an excuse, you know? But I wasn’t a good enough fighter on that night and I know where I am capable of performing at a high level as far as where my intensity needs to be.”

We’ll find out this Sat. night (Oct. 10) on “Fight Island.”

MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC Fight Island 5 fight card this weekend RIGHT HERE, starting with the ESPN+ “Prelims” matches, which are scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. ET, then the remaining main card balance on ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET.

To check out the latest and greatest UFC Fight Island 5 news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here. For the complete UFC Fight Island 5 fight card and ESPN+ lineup click here.