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Created: 2025-07-05 16:17:52 UTC

🧠 Cory Sandhagen explains how fighting Umar Nurmagomedov prepared him for Merab:

“Fighting tired just isn’t very fun, you know?  Especially for a very athletic guy like O’Malley.

So I think Umar did a good job there of being like, ‘I’m about to defend these shots. We can wrestle, bitch.’ You know what I mean?

There’s that attitude going into fighting a wrestler ‘Oh man, I want to stay out of the wrestling exchanges.’ I kind of made that mistake a little bit against Umar, too, where I ran from the wrestling exchanges a bit too much.

I couldn’t really do what I usually do. So I learned from that fight, big time, that that’s not the way to approach someone who’s a really good grappler and is going to make you work for stuff.

You kind of just have to be like, ‘Alright, bitch, this is what we’re doing,’ and be okay with that — accept it. And that makes it a lot easier.”

via @MMAFighting

![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GvG1DQRXMAAdgU6.jpg)

XXXXXXX engagements

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**Related Topics**
[bitch](/topic/bitch)
[merab](/topic/merab)
[umar nurmagomedov](/topic/umar-nurmagomedov)
[cory sandhagen](/topic/cory-sandhagen)

[Post Link](https://x.com/Home_of_Fight/status/1941531989800005953)