UFC on ESPN 50 Aftermath: A Different Gameplan from Cory Sandhagen

After a great night of fights in Nashville, Cory Sandhagen both dominated Rob Font and laid an egg. While he won every round of the fight, his wrestling-first approach left a lot to be desired for the fans. To be fair to Sandhagen, Font did come in on short notice, replacing Umar Nurmagomedov who is a wrestler in his own right. The short notice nature and the stylistic change of the fight really left Sandhagen with no other option but to be safe in his fighting. Today, we are going to go over the fight and find some of what Sandhagen did well in the fight with the newest issue of Aftermath.

Not the Usual Gameplan

Cory “Dagestan” Sandhagen really subverted our expectations at “UFC Nashville.” He didn’t subvert our expectations like Luke Skywalker showing up in the Season 2 finale of “The Mandalorian.” It was more like “The Last Jedi,” where Luke Skywalker was a hermit instead of a Jedi master and featured a slow speed chase in space. It wasn’t very entertaining. But unlike Rain Johnson’s abomination of a Star Wars film, Sandhagen was effective, and the approach made sense.

Font came in to strike with Sandhagen and was prepared. The crafty bantamweight veteran managed to get off on Sandhagen when the fight was standing, finding the jab and cross combination effective. Sandhagen would step back to create space as discussed in last week’s Beforemath. But instead of using the created space to walk Font onto counters, he would use Font’s pursuit to duck under and secure a takedown.

In the fourth round, we saw Sandhagen use misdirection to take Font down again. (1) Sandhagen moved laterally through the Octagon and Font followed him around instead of cutting the ring off. (2) Sandhagen would stop, bring his right leg forward and shift him to southpaw before (3) shooting the single leg in he opposite direction of his previous movement. Knowing he picked up the single, Sandhagen (4) drives through Font and to the side of the picked-up leg to (5) secure the takedown.

We discussed in Beforemath how Sandhagen would change direction with his momentum to catch his opponent off guard in a fight. That reference was based on the Frankie Edgar flying knee knockout. The takedown against Font from above really demonstrated how misdirection, in any form, can be beneficial if implemented correctly.

Misdirection can come in the form of changing angles, pivoting, and changing of speed. Sandhagen is a very capable athlete in all of these departments which is what makes him so dangerous. Being predictable in a fight costs far too many fighters wins especially in higher weight classes. What Sandhagen does that works so well for him is utilizing this in his attack to keep his opponents honest.

What little time he was on the feet, Sandhagen had his usual trickery of switching from southpaw to orthodox. He walked through punches to create power shots from a different side, stuff we all like to see.

(1) Starting in orthodox, Sandhagen would reach out with his lead hand and slap at the guard of Font looking to draw something out in terms of a counter attack. (2) He would then bring the right leg, his rear from where he’s positioned, forward and (3) into southpaw. In this instance, Sandhagen only followed up with a doubling up of the jab. But doing this can open up shots in an advancing manner instead of the step back to lead hook as we see from a fighter like Alexander Volkanovski.

Sandhagen wasn’t perfect on the night. Font did manage to catch kick once and get Sandhagen to the ground. Fortunately for him, it was at the end of the first round and he managed to ride it out. But something like this against Aljamain Sterling won’t be acceptable.

Font also had marginal success with the low kick against Sandhagen. Sure, Font was only 2 for 3 from the low kicks, but this is only because of the approach Sandhagen took to wrestle. I cannot chalk this one up to the change in opponent, however. Sandhagen’s original opponent was Umar Nurmagomedov. Practically the only striking he does is kicking, though not as rudimentary as Font’s low kick game was.

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The ease at which Font found the low kick those few times could bode bad news for Sandhagen as he fights Sterling or Nurmagomedov, both of which kick as much as Sandhagen switches stances. He will not be able to take them down as he did Font, especially with their wrestling pedigrees. Being forced to strike could lead to his legs getting smashed then taken down, a bad look for Sandhagen who let Font take him down in the first.

All in all, the fight with Font was pretty disappointing. We’ve all become accustomed to Sandhagen’s striking wizardry. Having the lay-and-pray approach nearly bored me to sleep, but the win was just that: a win. While it left a lot to be desired, it kept his win streak and thus, his bid for a shot at the undisputed title alive. He may not get the nod this time. But one more win could see “The Sandman” putting the champ to sleep, whoever that may be.