Cory Sandhagen (USA) vs T.J. Dillashaw (USA)
UFC APEX, Las Vegas. USA
The two-time UFC champion T.J. Dillashaw will return to the cage after a two-year layoff to fight Cory Sandhagen, ranked second in the official challenger rankings. The bout will take place in the lightest weight class.
Usually, after long downtime fighters do not go straight to the elite fights, but prefer to start with fights against easier opponents. In Dillashaw's case, it didn't happen - the former champion goes straight to face the number two in the ranking, without any warm-up, and according to experts, it can end badly for him.
Cory Sandhagen: he can strike knockouts, but has problems when wrestling
Cory is moving steadily up the rankings and quite deservedly takes his place there. The only one who can beat him in the division, subjectively speaking, is Peter Yang. Sterling, though, has already defeated Sandhagen, but there are big doubts that he achieve it again. In their fight, Sterling showed the weaknesses of Sandhagen - he can not fight in the parterre.
I don't need any more extra motivation to beat someone up or really hate them. It's enough for me that T.J. is trying to take away my dreams. I don't want to say anything bad about him anymore. The only motivation for me is that Dillashaw is my next opponent who wants to fight me. Out of all that, I want to knock Dillashaw out.
T.J. Dillashaw: We don't know anything about his current form
Dillashaw hasn't been in the cage in over two years, so we can't predict his current form based on previous fights. But on the whole, of course, you can highlight the fact that he's always been a versatile fighter who's both punched and fought at the highest level. On his last defeat against Henry Cejudo, T.J. went into this fight after losing a lot of weight (he went down to the lower division) and still performed poorly, looking exhausted and weak.
There will be no glitches in my performance. I will go out there and look dominant, so it's going to be great. I've always performed very well against the guys I've trained with. I'm very good at planning fights. I know what fighters' weaknesses are, and it's good to know that. But it all starts when the lights turn on. You can talk about training all you want, but we're not here to talk about past training. I think Cory Sandhagen is the toughest guy in this weight class right now. This is a real title fight. I'm champion again and it's time to prove it. It's all been said.
Expert betting tips
No one knows what kind of shape Dillashaw is in now, how much he resembles his old self, and how much better or worse he has become. On the one hand, fighting practice is definitely needed, but on the other hand, he has had time to heal injuries, get extra motivation, work quietly on his mistakes and prepare for a good fight.
Sterling showed that Sandhagen is vulnerable in his defense. Again, we don't know how much Cory has improved that aspect, there was just no opportunity to see it. We can also add that Sandhagen has never fought longer than three rounds, so again, the bookmakers quote that he is the favorite to be the victor in this fight.
I don't think it will be over very quickly, because these fighters just don't know each other's capabilities and it will take some time to scout and adapt.
The most interesting bets from the bookmakers are:
Cory Sandhagen to win for 1.571;
Total rounds over 3.5 for 2.10.
Other predictions
