Sandhagen reveals likely torn hamstring after Bautista submission attempt seals UFC 329 defeat

Cory Sandhagen is facing a potential hamstring tear after Mario Bautista’s kneebar attempt in the first round of their UFC 329 bantamweight bout left the veteran contender visibly impaired for the remainder of the fight. Bautista claimed a unanimous decision win — all three judges scored it 29-28 — capping the victory with a knockdown in the third round.

Sandhagen took to Instagram on Monday to post images of a bruised and swollen injury to the back of his leg, explaining that the damage stemmed from a Suloev stretch-to-kneebar transition by Bautista late in round one. From the moment he returned to his feet, Sandhagen was noticeably limping to his corner between rounds.

“Pretty sure the knee bar tore my hamstring in the first (getting MRI this week),” Sandhagen wrote. “It kept locking out weird if I did certain things. So that kind of messed up my game plan.”

Despite the injury, Sandhagen believed he edged the second round before the wheels came off in the third. “I wanted to have the same round as before but got dropped,” he added. “Gotta fight near perfect to win at the top. Something I need to get better at.”

The result was a measure of revenge for Bautista, who had lost to Sandhagen on short notice in his UFC debut back in 2019. Six years on, Bautista demonstrated significant improvements both on the feet and on the ground to reverse that result convincingly.

The defeat drops Sandhagen to 1-3 in his last four outings, following previous decision losses to Merab Dvalishvili and Umar Nurmagomedov. He will now wait on his MRI results before knowing when he can return to competition.