Cory Sandhagen surprised many by using an unexpected approach to defeat Rob Font in the UFC on ESPN 50 main event. The Elevation Fight Team member relied on takedowns and top control to secure a clean sweep on the scorecards in Saturday’s catchweight main event at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. Although it wasn’t a crowd-pleasing approach, it allowed “Sandman” to earn his third consecutive victory within the Las Vegas-based promotion. Font, who stepped in as a short-notice replacement for Umar Nurmagomedov, has now lost three of his last four Octagon appearances.
Sandhagen’s Takedowns and Control Time
Sandhagen landed 7 takedowns in 7 attempts, encountering little resistance while grounding Font at least once in every round. His previous UFC career best of three takedowns occurred in his last fight, a split-decision triumph over Marlon Vera at UFC on ESPN 43 this past March. Sandhagen also logged a total control time of 19:38, compared to Font’s 68 seconds.
In terms of strikes, Sandhagen landed 132 total strikes, while Font only managed to land 25. Sandhagen also held a 34-to-9 edge in significant strikes landed. Furthermore, Sandhagen landed 24 significant ground strikes, while Font only managed to land one. Font’s significant striking accuracy was a mere 0.180, as he landed just nine of 49 attempts and found few openings to land offense.
Other Notable UFC on ESPN 50 Performances
Tatiana Suarez secured her fourth strawweight finish in UFC competition by submitting Jessica Andrade with a guillotine choke in the second round of their co-main event clash. This ties her with Weili Zhang, Mackenzie Dern, and Polyana Viana for fourth most in division history. Suarez also extended her consecutive UFC win streak to seven, tying her with Movsar Evloev for the fourth-longest active winning streak in the promotion.
Other impressive performances at UFC on ESPN 50 included Diego Lopes securing one of only 11 triangle armbar finishes in UFC history by submitting Gavin Tucker in the first round of their featherweight fight. Additionally, Tanner Boser landed a career-best 120 significant strikes in his three-round victory over Aleksa Camur in his light heavyweight debut. Lastly, Billy Quarantillo dominated Damon Jackson in their featherweight bout, landing 169 total strikes to Jackson’s 75 and holding a 100-to-67 advantage in significant strikes landed.