Just weeks removed from his championship setback, the perennial bantamweight contender has had time to evaluate what went wrong, what went right and how he plans to improve from it. Although the pain of defeat is still there, Sandhagen’s response has been more reflective than reactive.
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“It obviously sucks to lose,” Sandhagen said on “The Ariel Helwani Show” on Tuesday. “I’m not too down right now. It kind of hits you in waves a little bit. But I’m doing well. Obviously I wish I had won and the fight had gone my way. But I’m a little more mature than in the past, dealing with the losses. I’ve been here before, so it’s not too surprising with the feelings.
“It definitely sucks. I wish I was the champion, but I’m not.”
For Sandhagen, the fight was less about a single failure and more about a sequence of momentum-shifting moments. He started strong, winning the first round on two of the three judges’ scorecards before Dvalishvili’s relentless pace began to dictate the action, the same formula that carried the Georgian champion through an active and dominant run at the top of the division.
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“I may have gotten a little cocky just because Merab, when he attacked, was a little bit off with his shots, which we explored,” Sandhagen said. “I just sat on an uppercut that I thought was going to hit him between his strikes against the cage, and I took one of those punches that bounces off the top of your head and spins you around for a second. But since I was against the cage, it wasn’t a good situation. He hit me with a really good right hand, and that sucked. Then I remember my trainers yelling from the corner, ‘Get up. Move, move, move.’
“The second round definitely didn’t go as planned, but it was like a little mistake that I made that I shouldn’t have made. That’s how this shit goes.”
Little details like that, Sandhagen said, are what separate the contenders from the champions. His willingness to analyze those moments accurately, without excuses, is something that has kept him relevant at the highest level for years, even as the division continues to change.
Meanwhile, Dvalishvili quickly adopted his championship schedule. “The Machine” is now set to return to action at UFC 323 on December 6, with a rematch against former champion Petr Yan in Las Vegas. It’s a change that even Sandhagen finds too impressive to deny.
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“He’s an animal for that,” Sandhagen said. “He doesn’t have to do that, but he wants to. That guy is a unique individual, and it’s good for him to fight again so soon because I would never do that. Good for him.”
As for how the sequel will play out, the recent title challenger expects a closer fight than the lopsided Dvalishvili-Yan encounter in March 2023.
“Honestly, it’s going to be a really tough fight,” Sandhagen said. “He’s going to have to do it the same way he beat me, where he’s going to have to take some of that time in those fighting positions and have Yan fight them. The first time they fought, Yan just couldn’t get any momentum. Having fought a guy like that, it’ll probably be a little easier the second time. You can feel that, notice it, and then counter him better. Yan has that advantage, for sure. It’ll be a super tough fight, but Merab will.” gain.”
Sandhagen’s respect for Dvalishvili runs deep after exchanging gloves in the octagon, but he is already mulling over his next move. There is one name and one matchup that continues to stand out to both fans and the fighter himself, and that is the long-discussed matchup with former champion Sean O’Malley.
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“I think O’Malley and I have to happen,” Sandhagen said. “If there’s ever a time to do it, it’s now. I don’t know if it’s booked for anything. That White House card would be amazing to continue fighting O’Malley. There’s one fight in the division that people really ask for over and over again, and it’s O’Malley and I. If you put us on that White House card, I think it would be a gigantic fight.
“It’s a little far away, so I’m not excited about it. But for such a big card against such a good fighter and a really good opportunity for both of them to give the fans what they really want to see, it would be worth the wait.”
O’Malley has been out of the spotlight since his submission loss in a rematch against Dvalishvili last June. While “Suga” has hinted at possible returns sooner rather than later, nothing official has been made yet, leaving the door open for a fight with Sandhagen.
That matchup, if it materializes, could serve as a pivotal moment in the division: a chance for Sandhagen to remain among the elite and for O’Malley to do the same while facing a technical forward of equal caliber.
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Until then, Sandhagen plans to stay active, continue honing his approach, and stay prepared for any opportunities that arise.
“To me, that’s the biggest fight you can make in the division outside of the championship fight,” he said. “It doesn’t make much more sense than it does now.”