Sean O’Malley respects Cory Sandhagen for fighting Umar Nurmagomedov, but he isn’t sure it’s the best decision.
Sandhagen (16-4 MMA, 9-3 UFC) meets Nurmagomedov (16-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC) in a UFC Fight Night main event on Aug 5. at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
Sandhagen is coming off back-to-back impressive wins over Song Yadong and Marlon Vera, and will be fighting down in the bantamweight rankings when he takes on rising contender Nurmagomedov. While O’Malley praises Sandhagen for taking the fight, he views it as a high-risk, low-reward situation.
“It depends. Businessman-wise? Not smart,” O’Malley said on his Timbo Sugar Show podcast. “If you look at it like that’s gangster, it’s definitely gangster. What does Chael (Sonnen) say? Fight the worst guy for the most amount of money.
“He’s doing the opposite. He’s fighting not for a lot of money and fighting the best guy. So in that sense, he’s f*cking not smart, but it’s gangster. I think it’s gangster he’s fighting Umar.”
Undefeated Nurmagomedov has finished three of his four octagon bouts – most recently a first-round Performance of the Night knockout of Raoni Barcelos at UFC Fight Night 217 in January.
O’Malley (16-1 MMA, 8-1 UFC) will look to capitalize on his first shot at gold when he challenges bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling (23-3 MMA, 15-3 UFC) in the UFC 292 headliner Aug. 19 at TD Garden in Boston.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 292.
Sean O’Malley: Cory Sandhagen ‘definitely gangster’ but not smart to fight Umar Nurmagomedov