{"id":5868,"date":"2025-05-04T14:49:02","date_gmt":"2025-05-04T13:49:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/?p=5868"},"modified":"2025-05-04T22:55:33","modified_gmt":"2025-05-04T21:55:33","slug":"sandhagen-stops-figueiredo-by-tko-at-ufc-des-moines-and-declares-his-intent-for-the-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/sandhagen-stops-figueiredo-by-tko-at-ufc-des-moines-and-declares-his-intent-for-the-title\/","title":{"rendered":"Sandhagen Stops Figueiredo by TKO at UFC Des Moines\u2026 and Declares His Intent for the Title"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"\" style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"2833\" data-end=\"3217\">In a packed Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, UFC fans didn\u2019t just witness a solid bout between Cory Sandhagen and Deiveson Figueiredo. They experienced a rare showcase of tactical brilliance and complete domination.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"2833\" data-end=\"3217\">The American\u2019s win wasn\u2019t just another result on the scorecards\u2014it was a <strong data-start=\"3124\" data-end=\"3180\">clear message to the top of the lightweight division<\/strong>: <em data-start=\"3182\" data-end=\"3217\">\u201cI\u2019m here, and my time has come.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"\" style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"3224\" data-end=\"3256\"><strong data-start=\"3228\" data-end=\"3256\">Round One: Early Warning<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"3258\" data-end=\"3600\">The fight began cautiously but quickly turned into a center-cage clash. Brazilian Figueiredo\u2014known for his submission prowess\u2014tried to catch his opponent with an ankle lock, but Sandhagen remained composed and punished him with a series of brutal ground strikes. The message was clear: <em data-start=\"3544\" data-end=\"3600\">\u201cYou won\u2019t pull me into your game\u2026 this is my domain.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"\" style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"3607\" data-end=\"3638\"><strong data-start=\"3611\" data-end=\"3638\">Round Two: The Collapse<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"3640\" data-end=\"3996\">At the start of round two, Sandhagen found his rhythm and dominated the exchanges. He brought the Brazilian to the ground, and in a shocking moment, Figueiredo\u2019s left knee appeared to buckle under pressure.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"3640\" data-end=\"3996\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"x1ejq31n xd10rxx x1sy0etr x17r0tee x6ikm8r x10wlt62\" src=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/video.php?height=314&amp;href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FRMCSportCombat%2Fvideos%2F1027934012628889%2F&amp;show_text=false&amp;width=560&amp;t=0\" width=\"560\" height=\"314\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"3640\" data-end=\"3996\">Sandhagen capitalized, landing vicious ground-and-pound. The referee quickly intervened, stopping the fight and awarding Sandhagen the TKO victory.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"\" style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"4003\" data-end=\"4060\"><strong data-start=\"4007\" data-end=\"4060\">Post-Fight: \u201cThis is My Game. I\u2019m the Best at It\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"4062\" data-end=\"4185\">In the post-fight interview, Sandhagen didn\u2019t apologize for the finish\u2014instead, he broke it down with professional realism:<\/p>\n<blockquote data-start=\"4187\" data-end=\"4363\">\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"4189\" data-end=\"4363\">\u201cIt\u2019s not shameful. If you don\u2019t know how to defend that position, your knee will blow out. It happened to T.J. Dillashaw, and now to Figgy. I\u2019m better at this game. Period.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3 class=\"\" style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"4370\" data-end=\"4408\"><strong data-start=\"4374\" data-end=\"4408\">Clear Message: Title Shot Time<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"4410\" data-end=\"4453\">Sandhagen made his ambitions crystal clear:<\/p>\n<blockquote data-start=\"4455\" data-end=\"4593\">\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"4457\" data-end=\"4593\">\u201cI\u2019ve dreamed of becoming world champion for more than half my life. It\u2019s time for the UFC to give me the chance to show how good I am.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"4595\" data-end=\"4741\">With the upcoming title bout between Sean O\u2019Malley and Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 316, Sandhagen now stands as a <strong data-start=\"4706\" data-end=\"4740\">serious contender for the gold<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"\" style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"4748\" data-end=\"4805\"><strong data-start=\"4752\" data-end=\"4805\">Conclusion: A Fighter Who Doesn\u2019t Wait\u2014He Strikes<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"4807\" data-end=\"5039\">Cory Sandhagen didn\u2019t just show up at UFC Des Moines\u2014he <strong data-start=\"4863\" data-end=\"4921\">seized the stage to launch his official title campaign<\/strong>. With his cold precision, fight IQ, and strong words, he proved he\u2019s more than just a challenger. He\u2019s a real threat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a packed Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, UFC fans didn\u2019t just witness a solid bout between Cory Sandhagen and Deiveson Figueiredo. They experienced a rare showcase of tactical brilliance and complete domination. The American\u2019s win wasn\u2019t just another result on the scorecards\u2014it was a clear message to the top of the lightweight division: [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5869,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45,86,21,91],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-5868","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"category-mma-video","9":"category-ufc-news","10":"category-ufc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5868"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5868"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5868\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5870,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5868\/revisions\/5870"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}