Cory Sandhagen, Yair Rodriguez, UFC Des Moines recap

Today’s episode of UFC Unfiltered sees Jim Norton and Matt Serra kick off a Monday full of fight talk with bantamweight contender Cory Sandhagen and featherweight standout Yair Rodriguez.

 

First up, Sandhagen joins the show just days removed from his dominant second-round TKO over Deiveson Figueiredo. He breaks down his performance, shares what clicked in the cage, and explains why he's ready to step in as a title challenger following June’s Merab Dvalishvili vs. Sean O’Malley rematch.

 

Between interviews, Jim and Matt react to the weekend's biggest upset: Bo Nickal suffering his first professional loss at the hands of Reinier de Ridder. The guys break down what went wrong and what could be next for the highly touted prospect.

 

Later, Yair Rodriguez stops by to reflect on his rebound win over Patricio Pitbull and to lay out his vision for the featherweight division. Focused more on avenging his loss to Alexander Volkanovski than chasing a grudge match with Diego Lopes, Yair also gives his take on the evolution of his training partner Belal Muhammad, who defends his welterweight title this weekend at UFC 315.

 

To wrap up the show, Jim and Matt dish out shoutouts to the standout performances from UFC Des Moines and look ahead to a stacked week of MMA action.