LAS VEGAS – Cory Sandhagen hasn’t thought much about what happened when he first fought Mario Bautista.
On the main card of UFC 329 at T-Mobile Arena (Paramount+), Sandhagen (18-6 MMA, 11-5 UFC) rematches Bautista (17-3 MMA, 11-3 UFC). It’s not a fight that Sandhagen necessarily wanted, but once he saw how the other top names in the division were being matched up, he had a feeling this would be his next assignment.
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The two first fought at UFC Fight Night 143 in January 2019. The fight lasted only 3:31, thanks to a Sandhagen armbar. It’s a fight that Sandhagen hasn’t thought much about since, but he’s aware Bautista may have harped on that result ever since.
“Outside of Mario, I know, having a chip on his shoulder and probably really wanting this one, which has been something in my mind the entire time that I’ve been training, it doesn’t really feel like a rematch,” Sandhagen told reporters at pre-fight media day. “My memory is about a month long, so anything that happened more than like a month ago, might as well have been lifetimes ago. So yeah, and I also didn’t lose.
“So, he definitely has a chip on his shoulder. He probably thought about that fight way more than I did in this one, which, you know, could benefit him, but also could not.”
While Sandhagen may be entering a fight against an opponent hungry for revenge, he’s also entering a three-round contest for the first time since he fought Frankie Edgar in February 2021. He’s been in the main or co-main event for eight straight outings, six of which went the full 25 minutes. Sandhagen isn’t worried that Bautista will try to make the fight a blitz in 15 minutes and doesn’t plan to change his usual approach.
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“I think that that’s probably how Mario’s going to view it, is it’s like a sprint, but I’m still gonna do my same sh*t that I do in all of my fights,” Sandhagen said. “I feel like I don’t really think of pace. I think of like who’s winning every 10-second interval or whatever, you know? My plan is to just be the best me, whether it’s five-round fights, three-round fights – but that being said, my best rounds are usually my earlier rounds, and that’s going to be hard for Mario to deal with.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Cory Sandhagen: UFC 329 fight vs. Mario Bautista doesn’t ‘feel like a rematch’
