Cory Sandhagen and Deiveson Figueiredo are believable bantamweight title challengers. Saturday might be their last chance to prove it. Sandhagen and Figueiredo headline UFC Fight Night in Des Moines, Iowa with everything to prove.
Sandhagen (17-5) is a curious case. He’s been dubbed a future UFC champion for half a decade, but he has repeatedly fallen short in crucial moments. The four fighters to beat Sandhagen in the Octagon fought for UFC titles immediately after. Stuck in status on the cusp of greatness should be frustrating; Sandhagen only sees the beauty.
“I juice as much good as I can out of my losses…” Sandhagen told CBS Sports. “Champions win by the smallest of margins sometimes. The amount of detail they have to pay attention to is incredible. It levels me up more every time.
“It doesn’t hurt me at all. I still have my heart set 1000% on being the champ at some point. It’ll be that way until I retire or I win it.”
Figueiredo’s (24-4-1) campaign to be a two-division champion ran into a compact, Petr Yan-sized roadblock. Figueiredo looked impressive up to that point, winning three consecutive fights and putting himself within reach of a title shot. Unfortunately, Yan swept Figueiredo on the scorecards. It seems the former flyweight king’s bantamweight ambitions won’t come to fruition, but he’s determined to break through in a pivotal fight.
“I’m a guy that’s now 37, so I can’t miss out on this opportunity,” Figueiredo said at Wednesday’s UFC Fight Night media day. “Beating Cory on Saturday, I’ll get on the microphone and ask UFC to get me that title shot.”
Check out the full interview with Cory Sandhagen below.
The middleweight co-main event on Saturday also presents interesting risers on the hunt for gold. If Bo Nickal (7-0) wins, he’s no longer a highly-touted middleweight prospect. He’s a bona fide contender. The three-time NCAA Division I champion is among mixed martial arts’ most decorated collegiate wrestlers. Nickal spent most of his professional MMA career under the UFC umbrella, having his second fight on “Dana White’s Contender” series. Saturday is the first time he won’t close as a four-figure betting favorite. It’s fair since he faces his first opponent ranked in the UFC’s official middleweight top 15. His biggest challenge may not be Reinier de Ridder, however, but Nickal’s enormous 37-pound fight week weight cut.
“A big portion of this fight camp has been bulking up. I wanted to get bigger for the weight class. I might have gone too far with it,” Nickal told CBS Sports. “Now I’m suffering, a little bit, the consequences of that. It’s part of the weight cut process. I’ve never missed weight since I started wrestling at five years old. I’ve weighed in hundreds of times, so I feel confident I’ll get it done.”
Reiner De Ridder (19-2) made headlines after signing with the UFC. The former simultaneous two-division ONE Championship titleholder is believed to be one of the sport’s best submission artists. A messy, labored win over Gerald Meerschaert cooled the hype, but his 90-second submission of Kevin Holland turned heads. The question is whether de Ridder can take down a wrestler of Nickal’s caliber, a necessary step to implementing de Ridder’s lauded submission game.
“I was a takedown artist first. I was a judoka as a kid,” de Ridder told CBS Sports. “Takedowns have always been a big part of my game. I’ve been taking down guys since before he was wrestling.
“I always go out and get to the guys as quickly as possible… I want to put a lot of pressure on him. I want to hit him with some good shots. He hasn’t been hit with anything major yet. He hasn’t been taken down. He hasn’t been pushed.”
Saturday’s solid card also includes a pick’em brawl between Santiago Ponzinibbio and Daniel Rodriguez, and Jeremy Stephens’ surprise return after beating former UFC champion Eddie Alvarez in bare knuckle boxing. Former UFC women’s bantamweight champ Miesha Tate headlines the preliminary card against Yana Santos.
Below is the rest of the fight card for Saturday with the latest odds before we get to a prediction and pick the main event.
UFC Fight Night card, odds
| Cory Sandhagen -550 | Deiveson Figueiredo +400 | Bantamweight |
| Bo Nickal -340 | Reinier de Ridder +265 | Middleweight |
| Santiago Ponzinibbio -115 | Daniel Rodriguez -105 | Welterweight |
| Montel Jackson -205 | Daniel Marcos +170 | Bantamweight |
| Serhiy Sidey -135 | Cameron Smotherman +115 | Bantamweight |
| Mason Jones -550 | Jeremy Stephens +400 | Lightweight |
UFC Fight Night viewing information
Date: May 3 | Start time: 10 p.m. ET (main card)
Location: Wells Fargo Arena — Des Moines, Iowa
TV channel: ESPN+
Prediction
Cory Sandhagen vs. Deiveson Figueiredo: Figueiredo doesn’t wield the same KO power in the bantamweight realm. “The God of War” mustered one knockdown in four bantamweight fights and couldn’t finish it. He’s well-rounded, but Figueiredo’s finishing ability truly set him apart from most flyweights. Stripped of that power, he’ll struggle against other complete fighters. “The Sandman” has also struggled with finishes lately, but his natural size difference makes a big difference. Sandhagen has a six-inch height and two-inch reach advantage over Figueiredo. Both possess comparable striking defense and takedown statistics. Figueiredo is the better submission artist, but Sandhagen is nearly impossible to finish. The stat most crucial to this fight is striking output, which Sandhagen leads by more than three strikes per minute. A finish is unlikely for either fighter, so Sandhagen’s ability to tally strikes will win him a decision. Sandhagen via Unanimous Decision
Who wins UFC Fight Night: Sandhagen vs. Figueiredo, and how exactly does the fight end? Visit SportsLine now to get detailed picks and analysis from the incomparable expert who is up over $1,500 on his UFC main-card picks, and find out.
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