Mario Bautista Shares Prediction for Sandhagen vs. Figueiredo

Mario Bautista is eyeing a rematch against Cory Sandhagen if both of them win their next outings.

Bautista is scheduled to fight Marlon Vera at UFC 316 on June 7 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. While Bautista isn’t looking past Vera, he is expecting a Top 5 opponent if he wins at UFC 316. And Bautista’s first preference would be Sandhagen, who submitted him in the first round of his UFC debut in 2019.

“Don’t want to look too far forward, but if I get past ‘Chito’ my No. 1 pick would be against Sandhagen,” Bautista told Home of Fight. “I would love to get that rematch back, and it would feel a little weird if I somehow passed him in the rankings without fighting him.”

While Bautista is now 9-2 in the UFC and riding a seven-fight winning streak, Vera is on a two-fight skid. Meanwhile, Sandhagen comes off a unanimous decision loss against Umar Nurmagomedov that ended a three-fight winning streak. “The Sandman” is now scheduled to face Deiveson Figueiredo at UFC Des Moines, which goes down at the Wells Fargo Arena on May 3. Bautista expects Sandhagen to keep “Deus da Guerra” at a distance and edge out a decision victory.

“I have Sandhagen winning that fight,” he said. “I think Figgy’s really tough… I don’t see him finishing Figgy, but I think Sandhagen has the tools to keep it at distance, keep him away and just win the decision there.”