UFC Vegas 60 card brimming with potential, including Cory Sandhagen-Song Yadong clash

Despite its underrated nature, Saturday’s UFC Vegas 60 card has the potential to be one of the best cards of the year.

In the main event, former interim title challenger, and No. 4-ranked Bantamweight Cory Sandhagen clashes with No. 10 Song Yadong in a matchup of dynamic strikers. Sandhagen has lived in title contention for the majority of his career. On Saturday night, the 30-year-old New Jersey native will look to rebound from two consecutive losses.

During his time in the UFC, Sandhagen has been a highlight machine, amassing a 7-3 record. Strength of schedule has never been in question for Sandhagen — the Elevation Fight product has put away legends like Frankie Edgar and Marlon Moraes. Sandhagen knocked out Moraes with a spinning wheel kick in 2020. In 2021, Sandhagen earned a shot at the interim Bantamweight belt with a knockout of Frankie Edgar via a vicious flying knee. The victory over Edgar propelled Sandhagen to an interim title shot versus former undisputed UFC Bantamweight champion Petr Yan, though Sandhagen was thoroughly dominated.

Following the loss to Yan, Sandhagen drew another former Bantamweight champion in TJ Dillashaw, where Sandhagen lost a controversial decision. The Bantamweight division is arguably the deepest division in the UFC in terms of talent. All three of Sandhagen’s losses have come to current or former champions, Yan, Dillashaw and current Bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling.

Sandhagen returns to the octagon after an 11-month layoff to face a surging Song Yadong, who has quietly gone 8-1-1 in 10 fights with the UFC. Yadong enters Saturday night looking for his fourth consecutive victory. Two of his last three wins have come via knockout. The 24-year-old Team Alpha Male product will look to make a statement against one of the divisions best Saturday night.

With the Bantamweight belt on the line at UFC 280 in October when Aljamain Sterling collides with TJ Dillashaw, the outcome of Saturday’s main event could decide the next challenger. Will Sandhangen get his opportunity to fight for undisputed UFC gold? Find out Saturday night.

After Giga Chikadze was forced out of his co-main event bout with Sodiq Yusuff for undisclosed reasons, the UFC moved up a Middleweight clash between Chidi Njokuani and Gregory Rodrigues to the co-main event. Sometimes the road to success can be a long one, coming off Dana White’s Contender Series it took Njokuani 28 fights to reach the UFC. Njokuani has ran through the competition to this point with his thunderous power earning consecutive knockouts over Marc-Andre Barriault and Dusko Todorovic.

Barriault is on Saturday’s card taking on Anthony “Fluffy” Hernandez in the featured prelim. In his quest to move to 3-0 in the UFC, Njokuani will face fellow knockout artist Gregory Rodrigues. The 30-year-old “Robocop” has only lost once in his UFC tenure. Six of his 12 MMA victories have come via knockout. The problem for Rodrigues has been his chin, half of his losses have come via knockout. This fight should be an entertaining slugfest.

At Featherweight, veteran Andre Fili looks to get back on track using his aggressive and well-rounded style having lost four out of the last five fights. His opponent Bill Algeo has seemed to have found his groove recently with consecutive victories over Johansson Brito and Herbert Burns. Algeo’s fast paced style left Burns completely exhausted and crawling back to his stool in July at UFC Long Island. This clash of veterans will certainly be action packed. Also on the main card at Middleweight, Dana White’s Contender Series alum Joe Pyfer looks to put on a show in his debut versus Alen Amedovski. Look for Pyfer to lean on his wrestling in an effort to claim victory.

In the main card opener at Heavyweight, Veteran Tanner “The Bulldozer” Bozer faces submission artist Rogerio Nascimento. Bozer comes in to Saturday night having lost two of his last three fights. The 29-year-old Nascimento has built a stellar 9-1 Record with six submissions. Saturday’s prelims feature two excellent showcases of women’s mixed martial arts.

In the women’s Bantamweight division, an intriguing top 10 clash takes place. UFC veteran and 2004 Olympic wrestling silver medalist Sara McMann returns to the octagon versus Aspen Ladd. In the women’s Flyweight division, veteran Gillian Robertson steps in the octagon on short notice to face Mariya Agapova.

All 14 fights on Saturday’s card have fight of the night potential. All of the action can be found on ESPN Plus beginning with the prelims at 4 p.m., and continuing with the main card at 7 p.m.