Latest news with #OverdogsPodcast
USA Today
28-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
UFC's Cory Sandhagen: Ilia Topuria way too dangerous of a striker for Islam Makhachev
UFC's Cory Sandhagen: Ilia Topuria way too dangerous of a striker for Islam Makhachev Cory Sandhagen thinks Ilia Topuria would have been too much for Islam Makhachev if they fought. Topuria (16-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) vacated his UFC featherweight title for a move up to lightweight to challenge Makhachev (27-1 MMA, 16-1 UFC) but won't get his desired fight after Makhachev relinquished his belt to go to welterweight. With the power in Topuria's hands, which resulted in back-to-back knockouts of Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway, Sandhagen sees Makhachev likely having suffered the same fate. "I'm going to actually go against what most people say, and I honestly think Ilia would win that fight," Sandhagen said on the "Overdogs Podcast." "It's a hot take, but I do. I think his stature is going to be hard to take down for Islam, and I think if those two are standing, I just think that Ilia is a way, way dangerous guy standing, and I just really can't see Islam hurting him because his guard is real good. I think Ilia will win that one." Makhachev will now challenge newly crowned UFC welterweight champion Jack Della Maddalena – a fight which doesn't peak Sandhagen's interest. "I have watched a bunch of JDM's fights, and I know that he's real good, but I don't really want to see JDM fight Islam honestly," Sandhagen said. "I don't really like when someone wins a belt and then they fight a guy from the lower weight class. I kind of want to watch JDM fight at 170 for a bit before too much of that stuff starts happening. I really want to watch Ilia and Islam fight, and I really want to watch Tom Aspinall and Jon Jones fight." As for Topuria, the former champion will still get his opportunity to claim a second belt when he meets Charles Oliveira (35-10 MMA, 23-10 UFC) for the vacant 155-pound title in the UFC 317 main event on June 28 from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas (ESPN+ pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+).
USA Today
24-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Cory Sandhagen criticizes Sean O'Malley's resume, hopes to prove he's better
Cory Sandhagen criticizes Sean O'Malley's resume, hopes to prove he's better UFC bantamweight contender Cory Sandhagen believes there are plenty of good fights available at the top of the division, but hopes to mix it up with Sean O'Malley to prove who is better. Sandhagen (18-5 MMA, 11-4 UFC) wants to fight for the 135-pound title, first and foremost. He may get the chance to kill two birds with one stone should O'Malley (18-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC) defeat current champion Merab Dvalishvili in their upcoming title rematch at UFC 316 on June 7 in Newark, N.J. "I think I'm sitting in a good spot, I just gotta persuade 'em, you know?" Sandhagen said on "Overdogs Podcast." "I did my best in my last fight." Sandhagen returned to the win column earlier this month with a second-round TKO stoppage of former flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo. The 33-year-old believes his strength of schedule is solid enough to warrant a title shot next. While Sandhagen admits Petr Yan, whom he fought for an interim title at UFC 267, also has a strong resume, he can't say the same about O'Malley, who landed an immediate rematch after losing to Dvalishvili at UFC 306. "When you think about O'Malley, he's had a good run at stuff, but I think if you fight tough guys for long enough, there's going to be nights where you just don't win, you know what I mean?" Sandhagen said. "Because all of these guys are really good, and I've fought the best guys for a really long time. Not a lot of other people in the division really get to say that except for maybe Yan and Merab. "O'Malley's not really one of those guys that gets to say that he's fought all of the best of the best of the division. I think that when he does that, he's gonna have off nights and he's gonna lose. I sometimes have off nights, and I've lost. That's just how fighting works." Should O'Malley walk away with the title at UFC 316, Sandhagen hopes it leads to a title shot because it's one of the fights fans have wanted to see for some time. Both offer unique striking styles, which makes for an intriguing matchup, and he'll get the opportunity to put online arguments about who's better to rest. "I think that when me and O'Malley fight, I'll get to show that I'm a lot better than him," Sandhagen said. "Unless I get that opportunity, I don't really feel like arguing with the ether of the internet about who's better at what. I think I'll definitely get that opportunity to show that one of these days."
USA Today
21-04-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Movsar Evloev willing to make big change for UFC title shot vs. Alexander Volkanovski
Movsar Evloev willing to make big change for UFC title shot vs. Alexander Volkanovski Movsar Evloev is ready to change his game plan just to secure a UFC title shot. The undefeated featherweight contender was left out of the equation when Ilia Topuria vacated his UFC featherweight title. Instead, the promotion matched up former champ Alexander Volkanovski and Diego Lopes for the vacant belt at UFC 314, which Volkanovski won by unanimous decision to reclaim the title earlier this month. Now Evloev (19-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC) is chomping at the bit for his shot. He acknowledges that all his UFC wins going the distance is perhaps the main reason why he was overlooked but is willing to show a different side to his game. "I can promise them that I'm not going to take down anyone if they give me a title shot," Evloev said on the "Overdogs Podcast." "I'm not going to go there first. If they try to take me down, OK, I'll accept this. But, I'm not going to go first. I'll just go straight striking. So let's see." Evloev, who's coming off a win over former bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling at UFC 310, is confident he can beat Volkanovski (27-5 MMA, 14-4 UFC) wherever the fight goes. "I will just push him to the wall," Evloev said. "So, don't let him run from me, don't let him move. Then he has to (start) exchanging with me. He will tire, or I'll break him because I know that I have bigger power, better wrestling, and I can control this guy five rounds or finish on the ground."
USA Today
04-03-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Julianna Peña changes tune on significance of Kayla Harrison fight vs. Amanda Nunes trilogy
UFC women's bantamweight champion Julianna Pena has seemingly moved on from the Amanda Nunes rubber match. Peña (13-5 MMA, 8-3 UFC) long has campaigned for a third fight with Nunes after they split their first two championship appearances. However, with Nunes retired, Peña never got her opportunity to settle the score. After dethroning Raquel Pennington to become champion at UFC 307, Peña dismissed Kayla Harrison (18-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC) and called out Nunes. However, Peña now has changed her tune and values a win over Harrison more than beating Nunes a second time. 'Kayla Harrison absolutely, because that's fresh, that's current,' Peña said on the 'Overdogs Podcast.' 'I don't want to be living in the past, I don't want to be stuck in the past. I want to be moving forward and keep things pushing over here, and that's Kayla Harrison. That's the one that I have my eyes on. That's my target, that's my goal, and it would mean the most to me. And I'm not unfamiliar to this territory. I was an 11-to-1 underdog with Amanda Nunes, so 7-to-1, that's pretty good.' Peña has opened up as a big underdog against Harrison. She theorizes why she's constantly underestimated despite being a two-time UFC bantamweight champion. 'I think that one of the reasons why I'm a 7-to-1 underdog or why I always get overlooked or why people are always counting me out is because maybe I'm not the most technically sound,' Peña said. 'Maybe I don't throw the rock 'em, sock 'em punches perfectly and make everything perfect where I'm just so technical. Maybe I didn't train martial arts or throw my very first punch until I was 19 years old and never was in wrestling as a young kid or judo as a young kid or was never in any martial arts until that time of throwing a punch for the first time at 19 years old and maybe don't have the experience that these other girls have. But I've always had this one thing that has set me apart from everybody else, and that is my mindset and the mental toughness, the grit and the belief in myself that I can do anything, and I've never put a ceiling on myself as far as what I'm capable of doing. 'I have always believed that I can, and when you have that mental toughness of I don't care what you do, I'm still going to get up, and I'm still going to keep coming at you a million miles an hour, it's really hard to defeat someone like that. When you throw the kitchen sink at someone and they say, 'Is that all you got?' It's mentally defeating for them and it's like, 'What do I got to do kill this person?' And I'm just on the other side like Terminator. You're going to have to literally cut my head off in order to get me to stop because I will not stop, and I think that attitude of never giving up or never stopping and always being relentless no matter what is kind of why I've had any amount of success that I've had, because I might get thrown on my head, but then you're going to have to be careful about what I do after I get thrown on my head. I may get taken down, but then you're going to have to be worrying about you getting elbowed in the face or punched because I'm not going to lay down, and I will not lay down.'
