Cory Sandhagen has made it clear that he wants revenge on former opponent and UFC champion Aljamain Sterling.

There’s no denying that Cory Sandhagen is a top contender at bantamweight. While he may have lost back to back fights against Petr Yan and TJ Dillashaw, he bounced back with a thoroughly impressive win over Song Yadong.

Prior to that, though, his last defeat came at the hands of Aljamain Sterling. The two fought at UFC 250 in summer 2020 and on that night, it took less than 90 seconds for ‘Funk Master’ to submit Sandhagen and establish himself as a top contender.

He went on to defeat Petr Yan before successfully defending the strap twice. Now, the expectation is that he will face either Henry Cejudo or Sean O’Malley in his next outing.

Sandhagen, as you’d expect, recently revealed that he’s hungry to get that win back.

“I think even if he does move up, I’ll probably follow him,” Sandhagen laughed. “I would really like to get that fight back, so maybe in the future that’ll happen.”

“I actually really commend Aljamain on making a move like that [going up to featherweight to avoid fighting Merab],” Sandhagen said.

Sandhagen makes a statement

“Whether he follows through with it is a different story, but I think him doing that for his close buddy is something that says a lot about Aljamain, and I really commend him on being that type of friend.”

Quotes via MMA Junkie

Sandhagen will next compete on February 18 when he collides with Marlon Vera in a blockbuster showdown at the UFC Apex.

Do you believe we will see Cory Sandhagen square off with Aljamain Sterling again? If we do, who would be your favourite to win the fight and would it be for the title? Let us know in the comments, BJPENN Nation!