UFC’s No. 4 bantamweight Cory Sandhagen is asking fans to evaluate the sort of fighter they look up to. The 33-year-old recently described Sean O’Malley as someone who seeks out “low-risk, high-reward types of matches” after failing to secure a fight against him on the Freedom 250 card on the White House lawn. However, ‘Suga’ Sean has maintained his stance on the bout.
The former bantamweight champion has claimed he was never offered a fight with Cory Sandhagen. Instead, the 31-year-old is set to face No. 6-ranked Aiemann Zahabi on the White House card. Even though O’Malley’s destination on the card is decided, Sandhagen isn’t quite done bashing Sean O’Malley. While appearing in an interview with Daniel Cormier recently, Sandhagen explained why he doesn’t respect O’Malley.
“Sean, as a person, I’m not going to carry any hatred towards him or jealousy or anything like that,” Sandhagen said. “I like Sean as a person. As a fan, I don’t think the way that type of character or whatever is interesting or inspiring at all. One of the biggest gifts that we have as athletes to give to people is inspiration, to go do something cool with your life, too. That means stepping up to the plate, taking big risks, like I have in my entire career.
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“I do it for me, but I also do it because inspiring and giving back,” Sandhagen added. “That’s one of the few ways I get to do that in this sport is by inspiring people. ‘Why would you take a fight against Umar? He’s down in the rankings.’ Because if I win, I get to inspire a bunch of people. If I go out and beat Merab [Dvalishvili] or I beat [Petr] Yan, I get to inspire a bunch of people because I know I took the hard road to get here. O’Malley is not about that life, so I can’t be a fan of that dude in that way.
“It’s the only fight that makes sense for both of us,” Sandhagen added during the interview. “Two, I like the fight. I know that I’ll beat Sean O’Malley. I know a lot of people are like, ‘Cory is going to take him down. He’s going to wrestle.’ I’ll outstrike O’Malley, too. We’ve got egos. I know I’m better than him. I want to go beat him, and I want to prove that I’m the better striker, I’m the better fighter, just all around in general.”
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Sandhagen is coming off a decision loss to Merab Dvalishvili in October last year. Sandhagen was hoping to land a fight against ‘Suga,’ who is ranked No. 3, and propel himself higher on the rankings to potentially land another title shot against the new champion of the division, Petr Yan, who defeated Sandhagen in October 2025.
Meanwhile, Sean O’Malley stopped his two-fight skid to Dvalishvili with a win over Song Yadong in January. Whether the Sandhagen fight ever happens is yet to be seen, but ‘Suga’ appears to have set a high standard for himself in his next outing.
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Sean O’Malley says boot him from the rankings if he can’t do one thing
The 31-year-old has made it clear that simply winning isn’t enough. Ahead of his June 14 fight, the former bantamweight champion declared that anything short of a finish should count against him. Despite snapping a long winless stretch with a victory over Song Yadong, Sean O’Malley remains frustrated by his lack of knockouts since 2023.
“I got to have a f***ing beautiful KO,” he said on his YouTube channel. “It’s just like there is no other option. Winning a decision is a loss. If I win a decision, take me out of the rankings. I need a f***ing finish here.”
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O’Malley hasn’t scored a knockout win since defeating Aljamain Sterling in August 2023. He is hoping to get a title shot against Petr Yan with a potential win in his next fight. He previously defeated Yan in October 2022 via split decision.
Sean O’Malley doesn’t seem all that bothered by what Cory Sandhagen has to say about him as long as he gets his hands on a title fight. And since ‘Suga’ has the Dana White privilege, he would likely have the easiest route to a title fight. But do you think Sandhagen would ever get the fight?