Sean O’Malley’s coach highly doubts Cory Sandhagen stands with ‘Suga’ after UFC 320 loss

Tim Welch expects Cory Sandhagen to grapple Sean O’Malley in potential fight

Sandhagen had his moments against Dvalishvili, fighting a pretty decent first round against the champion.

However, Dvalishvili nearly knocked out Sandhagen with strikes in the second round, leaving coach Tim Welch to believe he won’t be taking those chances in a potential fight against O’Malley.

“Cory is not an easy 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 money, lights out, hurts them to their body real hard, and then he finds a spot to put it on the money. Boom. To just KO somebody.

“So, I think it’ll be the first guy Cory’s fought who hits as hard as Suga.

“Cory, he’s gonna be trying to shoot…

“He’s not gonna just sit there and strike with Sean. He says he is, but he’s not. He’s gonna mix in shots, try to get on top, try to do what he did vs. Chito Vera,” Welch said of Sandhagen’s strategy for O’Malley.

Cory Sandhagen 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 piece of ‘Suga’ next summer.

“Me and O’Malley has to happen,” Sandhagen said.

“That White House card would be sick to fight on against O’Malley.

“That would be such a gigantic fight,” the top contender added.