Impact Sandhagen did as well as any opponent has against Dvalishvili in recent memory. For a round. Oddly enough, the downfall for Cory came on the feet. He was blasted by Merab in Round 2 and was lucky to survive the frame. He actually recovered well and was semi-competitive the rest of the way, but he never truly threatened the champion. On the surface, giving up 20 takedowns seems dismal, but Sandhagen allowed just 10:02 worth of control time. He quickly worked his way to the fence and got back up most every time Merab got him to the mat. Like those before him, he simply wasn't able to keep Dvalishvili off of him for a significant length of time. This had the feeling of the last title shot for the 33-year-old Colorado native. After all, Sandhagen is just 1-2 in his past three fights.
OCTOBER 5 • ROTOWIRE
