{"id":481924,"date":"2026-02-15T16:44:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T16:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/481924\/"},"modified":"2026-02-15T16:44:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T16:44:08","slug":"cory-sandhagen-thinks-he-deserves-petr-yan-rematch-more-than-sean-omalley-give-me-a-little-bit-of-freaking-credit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/481924\/","title":{"rendered":"Cory Sandhagen thinks he deserves Petr Yan rematch more than Sean O’Malley: ‘Give me a little bit of freaking credit’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cory Sandhagen might be coming off a loss<\/a> in a UFC title fight, but he still believes his name should be higher than Sean O\u2019Malley when considering Petr Yan\u2019s next opponent.<\/p>\n

Yan became a two-time UFC Bantamweight Champion when he turned in a stellar performance against Merab Dvalishvili at the end of 2025. \u201cNo Mercy\u201d won the fight via unanimous decision, and many expect a trilogy fight once Yan recovers from lumbar surgery.<\/p>\n

If a trilogy isn\u2019t next for whatever reason, O\u2019Malley\u2019s name has surfaced within the MMA community as a potential title contender. Appearing on the \u201cONX Sports Podcast,\u201d<\/a> Sandhagen took exception to O\u2019Malley\u2019s name being put in front of his for a possible rematch with Yan (h\/t MMAJunkie<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\u201cI try not to be a hater and a jealous person or whatever, but I\u2019m like, \u2018Yo, why are we not talking about me and Yan fighting again when me and Yan had a killer fight?’\u201d Sandhagen said. \u201cIt was a Performance of the Night, it was five rounds. We had a killer fight. Sean got finished by Merab, and then after that, barely beat Song (Yadong), and I finished Song, you know what I mean? I broke his orbital and cut his eye. I put Song in surgery the next time, you know what I mean? It\u2019s like, give me a little bit of freaking credit, goddamnit \u2013 but I can\u2019t let that stuff enter into my head or else I\u2019ll just be a jaded, jealous mean person all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sandhagen and O\u2019Malley have teased sharing the Octagon at some point<\/a>, and many believe such a matchup is inevitable. The \u201cSuga\u201d show recently claimed he plans to wait if a trilogy between Yan and Dvalishvili takes place. A title eliminator against Sandhagen is what many fans are clamoring for in 2026.<\/p>\n

Do you think Cory Sandhagen vs. Sean O\u2019Malley is the matchup to book next? Sound off in the comment section below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cory Sandhagen might be coming off a loss in a UFC title fight, but he still believes his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":481925,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,785,85],"class_list":["post-481924","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fighting","tag-mma","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=481924"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481924\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/481925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=481924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=481924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=481924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}