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The UFC Vegas 32 headliner between Cory Sandhagen and T.J. Dillashaw resulted in a controversial split decision win for the former bantamweight champion.
After five closely contested rounds, Dillashaw edged Sandhagen on the scorecards of two judges, giving him a narrow decision win (47-48, 48-47, 48-47).
While many fans and experts argued that Sandhagen should have been declared the winner, some were convinced that Dillashaw did enough to deserve the win.
T.J. Dillashaw vs Cory Sandhagen fight stats
According to UFC Stats, Cory Sandhagen landed 128 significant strikes in the fight, compared to T.J. Dillashaw's 110.
Sandhagen landed 110 significant strikes on Dillashaw's head, 10 on his body, and eight on his legs. On the other hand, Dillashaw sniped Sandhagen's head with 59 significant strikes. He also landed ten significant body shots and 41 leg kicks. Sandhagen's significant strike percentage was 45 percent, compared to Dillashaw's 41 percent.
However, their total strikes were almost level pegging. Dillashaw caught Sandhagen on a total of 169 occasions, while 'The Sandman' found success 171 times.
One of the major factors that helped Dillashaw beat Sandhagen was control time. The former UFC bantamweight champion enjoyed eight minutes and 22 seconds of control time, whereas Sandhagen had none whatsoever.
Dillashaw clearly pipped Sandhagen in the wrestling department as he took him down twice in the fight. Meanwhile, his 29-year-old opponent attempted just one takedown, which was unsuccessful.
During his post-fight interview, Sandhagen said he caused more damage in the fight, which should have been enough to earn him the victory. The 29-year-old came into the fight off the back of two consecutive wins against Morlan Moraes and Frankie Edgar.
In a recently uploaded Instagram post, 'The Sandman' admitted that his performance could have been better.
With a successful UFC return, Dillashaw will most likely land himself in the second spot in the bantamweight rankings. He is expected to face the winner of the rematch between Aljamain Sterling and Petr Yan in his next fight.
But if their rematch somehow gets delayed, T.J. Dillashaw said he would be open to fighting any other top-five contender.
