Frankie Edgar knew he would end up fighting Cory Sandhagen.
At UFC Raleigh in January of 2020, Edgar was booked to make his bantamweight debut against Sandhagen. However, the former lightweight champion ended up accepting a short notice fight against Korean Zombie and the bout against Sandhagen was canceled.
Now, in the co-main event of UFC Vegas 18, Sandhagen and Edgar will finally share the Octagon with one another.
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“I imagined we would cross paths. Going down to 135, he is a top contender, one of the best in the weight class so I figured we would eventually cross paths,” Edgar said on Just Scrap Radio on BJPENN.com. “I definitely want to be a world champion and fighting guys ranked ahead of me is where I want to be.”
Against Sandhagen, Edgar knows it will a difficult fight for him. He understands just how good of a striker the rising contender is. However, he took notice of what Aljamain Sterling did to him and that was using his wrestling and submit him.
For Edgar, he knows his wrestling will be a big factor in this fight if he is going to win.
“I always try to use my wrestling in fights. I wanted to use wrestling in my last fight and I wasn’t able to,” Edgar said. “Of course, that is always the plan but you never know what will happen come fight night. It is going to be exciting, new blood vs old blood. His style is very exciting, I am not going to have to look for this guy. He is going to come forward, we will meet in the middle and we will clash.”
If Frankie Edgar can pull off the underdog and get his hand raised, he knows a title shot will be next. However, he knows he can’t look past Sandhagen but is confident he will have a stellar performance on Saturday.
“I think a win over Cory gets me a title shot. This is a perfect fight for me to catapult me into a title shot and make my reign at 135,” Edgar concluded. “The timing is right, I have to go put in a stellar performance and really turn some heads. You go out there and put someone away that puts a stamp on the fight and puts everyone on notice.”
Do you think Frankie Edgar will beat Cory Sandhagen?