UFC fighter Cory Sandhagen says Deiveson Figueiredo turned down fight offer

According to Cory Sandhagen, a top UFC bantamweight contender turned down a fight against him.

Sandhagen, who lost in the main event to Umar Nurmagomedov at UFC on ABC 7 in August, said the UFC tried to pair him with Deiveson Figueiredo (24-3-1 MMA, 13-3-1 UFC) at the end of the year.

“Figgy turned down the fight against me in September, which is kind of weird because I thought Figgy was a little bit more into that life,” Sandhagen said on his YouTube channel. “Actually, it hurts me that Figgy doesn't want to fight me in December, but maybe he wants the easier fights. I don't know what the guy's up to.”

Sandhagen (17-5 MMA, 10-4 UFC) had originally promoted a fight against Sean O'Malley (18-1 MMA, 10-1 UFC) after the latter lost his bantamweight title by unanimous decision to Merab Dvalishvili (18-4 MMA, 11-2 UFC) in the main event of UFC 306 at the Sphere in Las Vegas last Saturday.

But when he hears that O'Malley will have to undergo surgery on October 3 for a torn labrum in his hip, he is a little disappointed.

“It really sucks, man, because I was really hoping to get the first and second fights. The fans get really excited for fights like that and it just sucks that they don't have that fight, at least now,” Sandhagen told Fanatics View. “But even going forward, you never really know what's going to happen. It kind of reminds me of three or four years ago when people were really trying to hype up a fight between me and Dominick Cruz.

“Cruz just never took the fight. He had other opportunities and he took them. That's just a bummer. I hope that's not the case this time and that the fans get to see O'Malley and I fight at some point. … I'm not going to wait until the summer for O'Malley. No way. I like fighting. I've just been out of action for a whole year. I really wanted to get something done in December, but I think realistically it's going to take a little longer.”

For more information on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 306.