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On a night with some special kick finishes, Cory Sandhagen finishes Marlon Moraes with a spinning heel kick. Granted some ground and pound finished him, but the kick to the top of Moraes' head put him down.
Cory Sandhagen came out quickly, switching stances and looked to a kicking attack while staying away from Marlon Moraes range. Both fighters mixed up their attacks, as both of their lead legs started to turn red early on.
Then Sandhagen connected with a couple of liver kicks that stung Moraes. Despite that, Marlon Moraes was able to get a take down in the very closing seconds of the opening round.
Sandhagen came out charging in round two to control the center of the octagon while looking to engage. He was moving well firing shots and moving in and out, as Moraes swung at air. Cory connected with a kick that he knew instantly cracked Marlon Moraes' orbital bone. He then landed that highlight worthy spinning heel kick, putting the former New Jersey native on the mat.
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The finish that came at 63 seconds into round two put Cory back in the win column while putting Marlon back in the losing one. Moraes is now 1-1 since leaving The Garden State for American Top Team, following his teammate and fellow Brazilian, Edson Barboza to Coconut Creek. And could easily be 0-2 if the split decision went the other way against Jose Aldo.
Cory Sandhagen kicked himself into title contention
Before the fight started, the next in line for champion Petr Yan, Aljamain Sterling put out this tweet:
With the number 4 Sandhagen taking out the number 1 ranked Marlon, things at the top of the Bantamweight division will most likely be shuffled. But immediately after the fight Sterling and former double champion Henry Cejudo started to go at it thanks to Cejudo's trolling skills:
And post fight Cory mentioned a couple of options he'd be interested in, but wants a title shot nonetheless. However, he did mention that it would only be after Aljamain Sterling has had his date against champion Petr Yan.:
