Sergio Pettis to train Cory Sandhagen for high-octane UFC battle against Umar Nurmagomedov

Sergio Pettis is looking to return the favor to Cory Sandhagen as he looks to get one-step closer to a UFC bantamweight title shot.

During his appearance on The MMA Hour, Pettis spoke about Sandhagen's generosity and what it's like to train with him. He mentioned that he sees a lot of himself in the UFC bantamweight contender and that they have trained together at Roufusport:

"He's just a simple guy, trains, goes home to his girl, his fiance, with his dogs, lives that cycle every day. And it was motivating, man, it was great to get that work in. He's such a great athlete and so well spoken. He was a great help for my last camp."

The reigning Bellator bantamweight champion then brought up that he helped "Sandman' with his preparations for his bouts with Petr Yan and Marlon Vera. He mentioned that he also plans on training with him as he prepares to fight unbeaten bantamweight Umar Nurmagomedov, saying:

"I know he's got a good fight coming up with Umar [Nurmagomedov], so I hit him up and...Yeah, I hit him up and yeah, I'd like to go out there and give him some looks, man."

It will be interesting to see if Cory Sandhagen can hand 'Young Eagle' his first career loss as training with a fighter of Pettis' caliber could be helpful.

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Sergio Pettis to fight Patchy Mix in Bellator title unification bout

Sergio Pettis is riding high after successfully retaining his bantamweight championship against Patricio 'Pitbull' Freire this past Friday at Bellator 297.

'Pitbull' was unable to become the first three-division champion in a major MMA promotion. The reigning bantamweight champion earned a unanimous decision win, which was impressive because he was coming off a 16-month layoff due to an injury. As a result of his injury, he was unable to compete in the $1 million bantamweight Grand Prix.

After the fight, interim bantamweight champion and bantamweight Grand Prix winner Patchy Mix was brought into the cage for a staredown. Both competitors are coming off impressive performances, so their fight will definitely generate plenty of interest from MMA fans.