Cory Sandhagen on big Stone Cold Steve Austin inspiration: “They were the best”
Stone Cold Steve Austin was someone that Cory Sandhagen found himself watching a fair bit in his formative years. A common experience for millennial men is immersion in Attitude Era wrestling, which seems to have been the case for the surging UFC bantamweight. This was covered during a recent interview Cory Sandhagen did with Helen Yee Sports.
With WWE and UFC now being properties underneath the broader TKO umbrella, it can be fun for fans of both promotions to see some crossover interactions. When asked if he was a huge WWE fan and if he still follows today, the talented 135-pound mixed martial artist mentioned that he’ll turn it on every once in a while, but the viewing is far less regular. When touching on the era that he actively followed professional wrestling, Sandhagen said,
“I really liked it during Stone Cold Steve Austin days, Triple H, The Rock, of course, that whole gang—the Undertaker, Kane, all of them. They were the best. Yeah, I loved that. The Brothers of Destruction, Undertaker and Kane with the mask back then. I love that.”
Cory Sandhagen and the role wrestling will play at UFC 320
Cory Sandhagen has a certain appreciation for worked wrestling, to use the parlance of the pro wrestling world, but he seems to see his shoot wrestling as a big variable that will aid him this weekend. On Saturday, October 4th, Sandhagen will vie for the bantamweight belt held by Merab Dvalishvili in the co-main event of UFC 320.
The defensive grappling is something that Sandhagen seems to think will behoove him against a dominant titleholder who used intensive, wrestling-heavy pressure in his approach. At T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Cory Sandhagen is aware of the challenge that he faces, but in breaking down the machinations of this matchup in an interview with UFC.com, Sandhagen stated,
“Merab [Dvalishvili] is going to have to deal with me. I’m not dealing with Merab this fight. There will be some of that, and there will be some adversity that I’m sure that I’m going to have to face in this fight, but Merab is dealing with me. It’s not going to be the other way around.”
“If I don’t let him do those things to me, then Merab is striking with me. Unless his striking has gotten a lot better, it’s going to be a really hard night for him.”” Sandhagen is also extremely confident in his own gas tank. “… “
“Not once in a fight have I felt incredibly fatigued the way that I’ve seen some of his other opponents be. Not once in a fight have I been on my back for longer than 10 seconds unless it was something that I was trying to do, so you take those two things off the table, which I’ve proven time and time again that I’m very good at, and Merab doesn’t have a lot of routes to victory, and I have a lot of them.”
“It’s going to be my night. I’m going to be champ.”
