Cory Sandhagen is a colorado based mixed martial artist and former Kickboxer. He started training Kickboxing at the age of 17 in Aurora and later MMA. He won 5 Fights in a row before losing a close descision to Jamal Emmers. He then picked up 2 more knockout wins, one against Diaz brothers protege José Aguayo.  His short notice debut against Austin Arnett was succsesful as he TKOd Ausin with a Body Shot in 2ed round. 

Cory went on a 5 fight winning streak in the UFC defeating noticible opponents in Raphael Assuncao and John Lineker. His next fight was a title eliminator against Aljamain Sterling, he lost the fight by submission in the first round .

Coming back he went on a 2 fight Knockout streak against the then nr 1 contender Marlon Moraes and former UFC Lightweight champion Frankie Edgar. A controversial split decision loss to former 2 time bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw followed as 17 out of 13 Media outlets scored the fight for Sandhagen.

  Replacing Aljamain Sterling who was out of his titlefight with Petr Yan due to a neck injury, Cory stepped in on short notice for the interim belt, despite some early succsess against Yan Sandhagen lost the fight via descision. Sandhagen told Ariel Helwani that he would like a fight against Dominik Cruz coming back. +

Sandhagen is scheduled to fight Chinese Prospect Song Ya Dong on September 17 2022.