Henry Cejudo: Cory Sandhagen probably best bantamweight other than me

According to Henry Cejudo, the UFC title fight between champion Petr Yan and Aljamain Sterling won’t determine the best bantamweight.

Since former two-division champ Cejudo (16-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC) retired and vacated the 135-pound title last May, a new champ in Yan was crowned, and now the Russian is gearing up for his first title defense at UFC 259.

Yan has only one career blemish, already notching wins over the likes of Jimmie Rivera, Urijah Faber, and former featherweight champ Jose Aldo. But other than himself, Cejudo thinks a surging young contender is the division’s best fighter, not the champion.

Cejudo’s pick? The dynamic and creative Cory Sandhagen, who’s coming off back-to-back “Performance of the Night” finishes over Marlon Moraes and most recently a 28-second flying-knee knockout of Frankie Edgar.

“He’s probably, in my opinion, the best 135 pounder other than me,” Cejudo said in an interview with media personality “The Schmo.” “But you just have to learn to bring the fight to Cory Sandhagen. You just gotta bring the fight, that’s it. You cannot give that kid space. He’s extremely dangerous; he’s got talent. But if you don’t bring the fight, he’s gonna get you because there’s one thing that he does know very well, and that’s distance and his composure, which are the things that I look at when I watch a fight.”

The top 135 pounders are jockeying for position, and with former foe T.J. Dillashaw already eligible to return from his two-year suspension for EPO, Cejudo thinks if Sandhagen (14-2 MMA, 7-1 UFC) doesn’t get his deserved title shot, he should fight Dillashaw next.

“I would wait in line if I were him (Sandhagen),” Cejudo said. “I would also wait for T.J. too, because that’s an easy fight for him. The difference between Cory Sandhagen and T.J. Dillashaw, is the fact that he’s better at what Dillashaw does. He’s a lot cleaner; he’s a lot smoother. They have similar styles, but T.J.’s style is a lot more broken, that Duane ‘Bang’ whatever it’s called. So if I was Cory, I would wait. If I was T.J., I would probably try to fight him to get to that title shot.”