Corey Sandhagen loves Sean O’Malley’s suggestions for the White House championship match.
But first of all, Sandhagen must win the UFC Bantamweight Championship. He will have the opportunity to do that when he challenges Merab Dvalishvili at the UFC 320 co-main event at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday.
On the podcast, O’Malley said he’s watching the path to fight for the belt in the UFC White House if he wins the next fight and if Sandhagen defeats Dvaliswill. Sandhagen would certainly take that path if he could use it.
“Yeah, certainly, O’Malley was on my radar. I was on his radar for a long time. Yeah, I’m on that side this time,” Sandhagen told MMA Fighting. “For a long time, O’Malley doesn’t want to have too many conversations about fighting me.
“But when you’re in the champion, everyone wants to fight you. Yes, I don’t feel like I’m begging for a fight with the stars, it’s fun to be on the A-side of that conversation. I’ll be the star.”
O’Malley has no reserved fights at this time as he finds himself in unfamiliar territory. Participate in the battle at the skid in two battles, both losses come to Dvalishvili. After losing his belt to Dvalish Vili at UFC 306 this September, O’Malley dominated the rematch at UFC 316 in June, and ended.
Sandhagen has seen a rendering of what the UFC White House event will look like. He is intrigued by everything that can be done, especially given the current political situation.
“I mean, it’s going to be a once in a lifetime,” Sandhagen said. “It feels like a sphere, but on steroids. Everyone was excited about the sphere, so this would take it over to another level.”
“I don’t know that shit is crazy. Especially politics is like our new oracle or f*cking identity structure, and how big it is now. Yeah, I don’t know, it’s crazy. And walking from an oval office sounds so weird.
Sandhagen scored his first shot with incontroversial gold after finishing Deiveson Figueiredo in the main event of UFC Des Moines in May. The 33-year-old competed for the interim title at UFC 267 in October 2021, losing to the decision to fight Petruyan.
Since then, Sandhagen has won four out of five, and at this point in his career he is ready to become a champion. When asked how Dana White feels about wrapping the title around her waist, Sandhagen says he’s not sure.
“At this point in my life, I’m 33, so I’m a little moderately mature so I don’t think my belt is going to do anything like the happiness inside,” explained Sandhagen. “I sometimes think that I live in the Matrix because my life is so great. So I don’t think that humans can live a better life than they have. And I know that if I lose everything, I’m still happy, so I don’t really expect it. Rather than being put into the UFC Fighter category.
“So, in that respect, I’m excited to see what kind of doors and what kind of roads open for me, what kind of roads open. I think the last 10% is always the most difficult. I promised this at this point like 15 or 16 years.