Cory Sandhagen discusses his upcoming battle with Frankie Edgar at UFC Fight Night 184, which takes place Saturday, Feb. 6 from the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
It is in the spirit of a warrior to travel around gathering the best tools and knowledge to improve one’s skills. When a warrior stays in one place for too long, their spirit and drive can become stagnant.
Throughout time, there have been thousands, if not millions, of warriors who were eventually beaten because they got too complacent and comfortable with their training and never put in the effort to shake things up.
UFC middleweight Ian “Hurricane” Heinisch started to feel that he was getting too complacent as 2019 drew to a close. He was 1-2 on the year after dropping decisions to Derek Brunson and Omari Akhmedov. So, early in 2020, he, along with training partner and UFC veteran Nate Marquardt, made a trip out to Thailand. They eventually landed at Tiger Muay Thai & MMA.
The UFC Fight Island 8 fight card was originally supposed to feature Leon Edwards vs. Khamzat Chimaev in a high stakes welterweight main event.
But the main event for UFC Fight Island 8 has transformed into another intriguing welterweight bout between top ten contenders Michael Chiesa and Neil Magny.
Magny had an exceptional run last year, staying active and amassing a three-fight winning streak over reputable welterweight contenders like Li Jingliang, Anthony Rocco Martin, and former UFC Champion Robbie Lawler.
“2020’s been a great year for me,” Magny said. “I wish it was a better year for a lot of people. But at the end of the day, I have no complaints about how 2020’s played out for me.”
UFC on ABC 1 delivered with a fun card and some really good match-ups. The lineup included two female bouts, one between Sarah Moras and Vanessa Melo and another that pitted Yanan Wu against Joselyne Edwards.
I also previewed Claire Guthrie’s fight against Nadine Mandiau, but I was unable to watch that Legacy Fighting Alliance contest due to work and have yet to see it. From what I understand, it was all Guthrie as she cruised to a decision win.
After my review of the UFC on ABC 1 fights, I will give a brief synopsis of the midweek UFC on ESPN 20 card’s female fights. It won’t be my normal extended preview, but it’s a little something extra.
(Click on the fight below and then scroll down to see in-fight live stats and full results, courtesy of Fight Analytics. Full live results for the first UFC Fight Island 8: Chiesa vs. Magny (aka UFC on ESPN 20) from Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. ET / 6 a.m. PT on Wednesday, Jan. 20, on MMAWeekly.com)
UFC Fight Island 8: Chiesa vs. Magny start times
UFC Fight Island 8: Chiesa vs. Magny main card start time: 12 p.m. ET / 9 a.m. PT on ESPN and ESPN+
UFC Fight Island 8: Chiesa vs. Magny prelims start time: 9 a.m. ET / 6 a.m. PT on ESPN and ESPN+