Cory
Sandhagen will try to improve to 2-0 against Mario Bautista at UFC
329 | Getty/UFC
Cory
Sandhagen and Mario
Bautista are going to run it back this summer.
The bantamweight contenders will square off in a rematch at
UFC
329 on July 11 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Multiple
outlets confirmed the booking following an initial report from from MagicM on social media.
Sandhagen defeated Bautista via first-round submission in their
initial meeting at UFC Fight Night 143 on Jan. 19, 2019.
Part 2, Higher Stakes
Sandhagen is coming off a failed championship bid at UFC 320, where
he dropped a five-round verdict to former title holder Merab
Dvalishvili this past October. The 35-year-old “Sandman” has
earned victories against the likes of Deiveson
Figueiredo, Rob Font,
Marlon
Vera, Yadong
Song, Frankie
Edgar and Marlon
Moraes during his promotional tenure.
Bautista is 11-2 in the Octagon since falling to Sandhagen in his
UFC debut. After having an eight-bout winning streak snapped by
Umar
Nurmagomedov at UFC 321, the 32-year-old MMA Lab product
returned to the win column on Feb. 7, when he scored a second-round
submission of Vinicius
Oliveira in the UFC Fight Night 266 main event.
UFC 329 does not currently have a main event, though the card is
rumored to feature Conor
McGregor’s first fight since June 2021. Additionally,
heavyweight uber-prospect Gable
Steveson is expected to make his Octagon debut against an as
yet to be named opponent.