Mario Bautista eyes a future rematch with Cory Sandhagen:
“If things go well and I keep moving up, I wouldn’t want to move past Cory Sandhagen especially since it was my debut fight and I’ve worked all this way just to get back here and he’s still in front of me…
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— Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) October 1, 2024
Mario Bautista wants to avenge his loss against Cory Sandhagen at some point.
Bautista suffered a first-round submission loss against Sandhagen in his UFC debut back in 2019. However, Baustista has since racked up an 8-1 promotional record, which includes a current six-fight winning streak.
Bautista is now scheduled to face arguably his toughest test since Sandhagen in Jose Aldo on the UFC 307 main card on Saturday at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. If he gets past Aldo and maintains his upward climb, Bautista would like to run it back with “The Sandman” before eyeing someone higher up the rankings.
UFC 307: Pereira vs. Rountree Jr. Saturday at 10 ET on ESPN+. Order Now!
“If things go well and I keep moving up, I wouldn’t want to look past Cory Sandhagen — especially since it was my debut fight,” Bautista told Home of Fight. “I’ve worked all this way just to get back here, and he’s still in front of me… So it wouldn’t feel right to pass him or skip ahead of him if I ever had that opportunity. So if everything goes well I’d like to fight Cory again.”
Bautista’s six-fight winning streak — which includes three finishes — is topped off by a unanimous decision win over Ricky Simon in his last outing this past January. Meanwhile, Aldo is coming off a unanimous decision win over Jonathan Martinez at UFC 301 in May, that saw him rebound from a loss against reigning champ Merab Dvalishvili.
Meanwhile, Sandhagen is coming off unanimous decision loss against Umar Nurmagomedov that saw a three-fight winning streak snapped.
