Cory Sandhagen: A Semi-Comprehensive Look At The Sandman: (thread)

Stance:
The crux of Sandhagen’s style is his ability to freely and fluently switch stances. Some of his best switching abilities are on display when he switches while retreating from flurries and when he switches stances to slip and duck under punches in the pocket.

Sandhagen has great offensive capabilities from both stances and can switch moving forward or backwards. While he is not completely ambidextrous and does not have equivalent capabilities in both stances, he still has a multitude of weapons and threats to the opponent from either.

Pressure:
Sandhagen’s style really shines when he is able to back the opponent up onto the fence and pick them apart from there. His style of pressure is very intelligent and makes use of a lot of feints and a variety of strikes targeting different areas.

He often bewilders opponents and they back themselves onto the fence hoping to catch Sandhagen with something as he comes in. He is good at entering the pocket with strikes, retreating just enough to avoid the opponent’s return and then moving back in with strikes as they recover

Footwork:
While the influence of Bantamweight greats, Cruz and Dillashaw, can clearly be seen in his movement, Cory’s footwork is not a lazy carbon copy of either and contains different bits and pieces that truly makes it his own.

Where Dillashaw would slide and shift through stances mid combination, Cory switches much more selectively on the offence, which minimises his offensive capabilities slightly but offers him more safety and stability when entering or exchanging in the pocket.

And where Cruz would often bounce around laterally while switching on the defence, Cory again minimises the risks associated with this by not adopting the wild head movement and cross stepping that Cruz often uses.

In summary, Sandhagen has a condensed version of this stance switching style, which makes him less offensively capable/diverse than TJ and less defensively capable/diverse than Cruz, but makes up for those by offering him stability and an array of options moving forward or back.

Kicking:
Most of Sandhagen’s offense comes from boxing range, he also makes use of his length and stance switching with a good arsenal of kicks. He boxes and feints into his low kicks well, he often draws the opponent’s guard and attention high and then chops their legs.

He throws a great southpaw left kick to the body and has occasionally used a sharp teep to the body to keep his range and do some damage.
He has a good flying knee that he sometimes shows, his timing on it is usually pretty good and he often catches opponent’s ducking into it.

Boxing:
Sandhagen has good awareness in the pocket and during exchanges. He has a measured and intelligent jab that he uses to measure range and to pester opponents. He also uses his jab to draw out counters which he can then avoid and counter in turn.

Once he has established his jab he often feints it to get the opponent to shell up and then he usually kicks the legs or works the body. He can box effectively from both stances but his best work comes from the orthodox stance.

He has shown a tendency to lunge into the pocket with a rear hand straight but stays aware as he does so, he will often duck in anticipation of the return and if he misses he will use the hand to frame off the opponent to set up other attacks.

He is also a very effective hand-fighter from both stances. He often uses the hand fighting to lull the opponent into a rhythm which he’ll most often break with a jab, a leg kick or a hard bodyshot.

Cory has shown an incredible aptitude and dedication to body work, he rips punches to the body very often. His left body hook is used and set up in a variety of ways. He can jab into it, use it to end combinations, lunge into it from range or use it to chain into his low kick.

Defence:
Cory Sandhagen’s main form of defence comes in the form of his footwork and head movement. When he is not jabbing or hand-fighting he generally keeps his hands low and leans a little bit forward.

His first line of defence is just retreating out of the pocket, often switching stances as he does. He is good at stepping out, leaning and weaving to avoid the initial 1-2 punches but has shown a tendency to back into the fence and get caught if the opponent keeps up the flurry.

If he cannot retreat fast enough he is good at raising his guard to block punches coming from the side. And when the opponent throws primarily straight punches at him, he is great at slipping and throwing the cross counter from either stance.

Cory has been shown to be quite kickable and his defence to bodyshots is basically non-existent. Assuncao had some success kicking Sandhagen’s legs and Lineker clubbed his body with right hooks all night long during their fight

Physicality:
Cory is a giant Bantamweight, he has incredible height, reach and range for the weight class and makes very good use of it. He is excellent at staying at the end of his reach and just outside the opponent’s.

Sandhagen is also an incredibly quick bantamweight, his hand speed and foot speed are among the best in the weight class. He does not seem incredibly physically strong though, opponent’s are often able to reverse him onto the fence in the clinch by pure strength.

He does have incredible heart, durability and recovery. Alcantara clipped him early in their fight and had him in a deep armbar, but Cory gutted his way through it and spent the next two rounds battering Iuri.

He also has phenomenal cardio from the looks of things, he keeps an incredibly high pace and has never looked even a little tired in his UFC fights.

Clinch:
Usually when Sandhagen finds himself in the over-under clinch he will look for the right under hook and bicep control on his left side. He will also occasionally try to snap on the double collar ties when the opponent ducks down and attempt to knee them in the head.

Cory will occasionally enter the clinch to smother his opponents after an exchange but he hasn’t shown any real intention or capability to take the opponent down or threaten serious damage from there He is somewhat complacent in the clinch and opponents have often taken advantage

Four of his six UFC opponent’s have managed to get the back bodylock and takedowns of him because he doesn’t have enough control in the clinch to prevent that. His double and single leg takedown defence against the fence is pretty solid.

He bases out well to prevent doubles and often uses the Kimura grip to prevent the high-single slam. He has even used the Kimura grip to get to advantageous positions by rolling with it.

Ground Game:
On the bottom, Cory is an impressive scrambler and rarely sits still, he makes a point of it to get back to his feet quickly and seems very hard to keep down and control.

One issue that got exposed by Sterling was his tendency to give up his back in scrambles and while this has only cost him once, it is still a bad habit that has shown its face in other fights.

On top he primarily looks to cause damage by landing big G&P shots. This means his control on top is usually slightly compromised as he often leaves space to generate power for his shots. He rarely passes guard and often just stands up or tripods over the opponent to land shots.

In the Bautista fight Sandhagen showed impressive submission offence and transitioned beautifully between a Kimura and an Armbar to get the tap.