Cory Sandhagen released a statement following his split decision loss to TJ Dillashaw at Saturday’s UFC Vegas 32 card, saying “nice job, TJ.”
Sandhagen lost a very narrow split decision to his former teammate and current rival Dillashaw in the main event of UFC Vegas 32. It was a very close fight that could have gone either way, but two of the three judges decided to go with the former champ Dillashaw for the win. Taking to his social media following the fight, Sandhagen reacted to the loss by congratulating his opponent and letting his fans know he will be back stronger.
View this post on Instagram
Nice job, TJ. A couple mistakes won it for em.. I’m still champ next year. Heart strong always. Journey continues
The loss to Dillashaw is just a temporary setback for Sandhagen, who had defeated Marlon Moraes and Frankie Edgar by knockout in his last two fights leading into this one. Overall, Sandhagen still has an excellent 7-2 record in the Octagon, and he said following the fight that UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby told him that he is still one win away from a title. In some ways, it appears as though the UFC is treating this loss almost as a win for Sandhagen. While Dillashaw is the one who gets the win bonus and presumably the next title shot against the winner of Aljamain Sterling vs. Petr Yan 2, Sandhagen is apparently just one more win away from getting back to the top of the division.
In the meantime, it will be interesting to see who the UFC matches up Sandhagen with next, as even though he lost on the scorecards, Sandhagen is still top-five at 135lbs.
Do you think Cory Sandhagen deserved to win on the judges’ scorecards against TJ Dillashaw at UFC Vegas 32?