UFC bantamweight Cory Sandhagen didn’t believe Aljamain Sterling could take out Petr Yan, but he did it twice. Now, Sandhagen believes the bantamweight champ has what it takes to dispatch yet another elite opponent in T.J. Dillashaw, who Sterling is set to face at UFC 280. Sandhagen told The Fighter vs The Writer that he’s expecting Aljamain Sterling to take Dillashaw’s back and submit him to retain the bantamweight belt.
“I was actually surprised. When people were asking me, I was saying Yan was going to win. Good for Sterling. There’s so many different types of fighters in the sport and there’s so many different paths to victory. I think Sterling has just done such a good job of finding his path to victory and it’s pretty great.
Sandhagen Backs Sterling To Submit T.J. Dillashaw At UFC 280
Honestly, it’s mildly inspiring just to see a person who has figured it out, even though he might not be the most technical, he might not be the most this, the most that, the guy has figured out a way to make himself win over and over again against the really best guys in the world.
I definitely would not count out Aljamain at all. Honestly, I have Aljamain kind of picked in this one […] I’ve given it some thought and actually think that Sterling is just going to be able to do what he does. I think that he’ll be able to take T.J. down and I think that he’ll probably be able to submit him if he can get on his back.”
Key to this, says Sandhagen, is that T.J. Dillashaw has lost some of his punching power of late. Dillashaw was stripped of his title three years back when he failed a PED test, and only recently returned to action.
“I don’t think T.J. has the amount of punching power that he maybe used to have to be able to stop Sterling or hurt him really bad. I don’t think he contains that much power. Just from feeling the both of them, too, I don’t really think that T.J. packs the same punch and I don’t think he’s going to be as strong as Sterling.
I think Sterling’s wrestling is really discredited and I think that he’s an amazing wrestler and I think he’s very strong and I think he’s going to be able to outpower T.J.”
Do you agree with Cory Sandhagen’s prediction? Let us know in the comments.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_2YoG-OmZU
