Cory Sandhagen cemented his status as a threat to the UFC bantamweight title over the weekend with a highlight-reel knockout of former champion and future Hall of Famer Frankie Edgar.
Sandhagen connected with a flying knee that rendered Edgar unconscious a mere 28 seconds into the opening round of the co-main event bout.
The finish is the early frontrunner for best knockout of 2021. It was the second-fastest flying knee knockout in UFC history – Jorge Masvidal’s record-setting five-second KO of Ben Askren at UFC 239 is the fastest.
CORY SANDHAGEN FLYING KNEE!! #UFCVegas18 pic.twitter.com/bNyJBc3aD2
— UFC Canada (@UFC_CA) February 7, 2021
The win earned Sandhagen (14-2) his second consecutive Performance of the Night bonus. He finished former No. 1 contender Marlon Moraes with a spinning wheel kick knockout this past October.
Sandhagen, 28, has lost only once since debuting in the UFC three years ago. It was an 88-second submission defeat to Aljamain Sterling at UFC 250 last June. Sterling is set to challenge current 135-pound champion Petr Yan at UFC 259 in March. Sadhagen could be in line to face the winner later this year.
Meanwhile, Edgar (24-9-1) has lost four of his past six fights dating back to 2018 and three of those losses were by knockout. Edgar turns 40 in October.
The event took place at the UFC APEX facility in Las Vegas. Below are the complete results from the event.
MAIN CARD
— Alexander Volkov def. Alistair Overeem by TKO
— Cory Sandhagen def. Frankie Edgar by knockout
— Clay Guida def. Michael Johnson by unanimous decision
— Alexandre Pantoja def. Manel Kape by unanimous decision
— Beneil Dariush def. Carlos Diego Ferreira by split decision
— Danilo Marques def. Mike Rodríguez by technical submission (rear-naked choke)
PRELIMINARY CARD
— Devonte Smith def. Justin Jaynes by TKO (doctor’s stoppage)
— Karol Rosa def. Joselyne Edwards by unanimous decision
— Lara Procópio def. Molly McCann by unanimous decision
— Seung Woo Choi def. Youssef Zalal by unanimous decision
— Timur Valiev def. Martin Day by unanimous decision
— Ode Osbourne def. Jerome Rivera by knockout
[relatedlinks]
12:52
COMMENTS
When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.