What’s next for Cory Sandhagen and Rob Font after UFC Nashville?

In the main event of UFC Nashville, top-10 bantamweights met in a 140lbs catchweight fight as Cory Sandhagen took on Rob Font.

Sandhagen entered the scrap coming off back-to-back wins over Marlon Vera and Song Yadong in precious fight night main events. Prior to the back-to-back wins, Sandhagen had lost two in a row to Petr Yan for the interim belt and a controversial split decision to TJ Dillashaw. Font, meanwhile, snapped his two-fight losing skid last time out as he scored a first-round knockout over Adrian Yanez.

Ultimately, it was Sandhagen who won a lopsided decision as he used his wrestling to dominate Font and had nearly 20 minutes of control time. He ended up winning all five rounds, and after the fight, he revealed he suffered a torn tricep and requires surgery. Now, after UFC Nashville, here is what I think should be next for both Cory Sandhagen and Rob Font.

Cory Sandhagen

Cory Sandhagen was preparing to fight Umar Nurmagomedov who likely would’ve wrestled, so it shouldn’t have been a surprise to see Sandhagen use his grappling at UFC Nashville against Rob Font. In the lead-up to the fight, many people expected it to be a fun striking matchup but it was far from that.

Ultimately, Sandhagen did what he needed to do to get the win and do so convincingly. After the win, he called for a title shot, but Dana White left the arena during the fourth round, so he likely wasn’t happy with the fight because of that, Sandhagen will likely need to fight one more time, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the UFC try and rebook the Nurmagomedov fight in a number one contender bout for some time in the last quarter of 2023.

Rob Font

Rob Font ended up moving his fight up two weeks after he was supposed to fight against Song Yadong at UFC 292. Yet, Yadong withdrew from his scrap at the same time Nurmagomedov did, so Font decided to take the chance to face Sandhagen.

Unfortnately, Font was outwrestled and controlled on the ground and dropped a lopsided decision. It was a disappointing fight, and one Font likely will be angry at for quite some time. However, he didn’t take much damage so he could return fairly soon and I expect the UFC to just rebook the Yadong fight once both are healthy and ready to fight.