Sean O’Malley vs. Cory Sandhagen might be a possibility in 2026.
The UFC stars have yet to cross paths within the bantamweight division, but O’Malley and Sandhagen do share common opponents within the champion Merab Dvalishvili, Aljamain Sterling, Petr Yan, and Chito Vera.
Prior to Sandhagen’s title fight loss against Dvalishvili at UFC 320, O’Malley mentioned ‘Sandman’ as a possible fight for him on the UFC’s White House event in June.
Sandhagen has long desired to fight O’Malley, a fellow striker at 135 lbs.
O’Malley’s head coach doesn’t think Sandhagen will wish to stand and trade with the previous champion after his latest performance.
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Tim Welch expects Cory Sandhagen to grapple Sean O’Malley in potential fight
Sandhagen had his moments against Dvalishvili, fighting a reasonably decent first round against the champion.
Nevertheless, Dvalishvili nearly knocked out Sandhagen with strikes within the second round, leaving coach Tim Welch to imagine he won’t be taking those possibilities in a possible fight against O’Malley.
“Cory just isn’t a straightforward guy because he’s so good at mixing it in,” Welch said of Sandhagen as an opponent for O’Malley on his YouTube channel.
“But I do think you saw how hurt he was vs. Merab hitting him. And Merab is confident. He’s throwing those punches hard. But again, Suga f—— hits people hard, dude.
“And he hits them on the cash, lights out, hurts them to their body real hard, after which he finds a spot to place it on the cash. Boom. To only KO any individual.
“So, I feel it’ll be the primary guy Cory’s fought who hits as hard as Suga.
“Cory, he’s gonna be attempting to shoot…
“He’s not gonna just sit there and strike with Sean. He says he’s, but he’s not. He’s gonna mix in shots, attempt to get on top, attempt to do what he did vs. Chito Vera,” Welch said of Sandhagen’s strategy for O’Malley.
Cory Sandhagen right down to fight Sean O’Malley at UFC White House
Sign Sandhagen up for a fight with O’Malley on the White House lawn.
Speaking on the Ariel Helwani Show following his loss to Dvalishvili, Sandhagen says he wants a chunk of ‘Suga’ next summer.
“Me and O’Malley has to occur,” Sandhagen said.
“That White House card could be sick to fight on against O’Malley.
“That may be such a huge fight,” the highest contender added.