Cory Sandhagen faced Deiveson Figueiredo in a bantamweight bout on May 3, 2025, at the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa. The first round opened with both fighters exchanging calf kicks and landing early damage. Figueiredo attempted to grapple Sandhagen and initially succeeded, but Sandhagen pushed him back toward the fence. After breaking the hold, Figueiredo landed an uppercut. Sandhagen responded with an uppercut of his own, but Figueiredo capitalized on the moment and locked Sandhagen in another hold.
Figueiredo brought Sandhagen to the mat, but the hold didn’t last long.Sandhagen quickly reversed the position, mounted Figueiredo, and locked him into a hold. From there, he landed several clean strikes. Figueiredo struggled to escape, but Sandhagen maintained dominant control and continued pressuring him. As Figueiredo adjusted to improve his hold, Sandhagen kept the assault going. He got back to his feet, twisted Figueiredo to face him, and delivered two powerful strikes to Figueiredo’s face.
Sandhagen dominated the entire first round. The highlight came when he landed 52 strikes while Figueiredo clung to his leg in a defensive position.In the second round, both fighters resumed with aggressive calf kicks. Figueiredo fought more cautiously early on, attempting to prevent further damage. He tried another grapple, but Sandhagen broke free quickly and spun around to deliver a strong body kick. After a brief striking exchange, Figueiredo successfully took Sandhagen down with a grappling move. He went for Sandhagen’s leg again, but Sandhagen shifted his weight and climbed on top of Figueiredo, reversing the situation once more.They broke apart and returned to their feet. Sandhagen then executed a clean takedown, driving Figueiredo back to the mat.
After several back-and-forth grappling exchanges, the fight ended in a TKO when Figueiredo suffered a knee injury and could not continue. Sandhagen won by technical knockout. Commentators praised Figueiredo for his toughness, with one noting, “He’s not the type to just tap out.” When asked about his aggressive showing, Sandhagen said, “Nothing really fires you up like a loss,” and credited his trainers, saying, “I’ve got a really good team behind me.” He also declared, “I’m gonna be champ one day,” and expressed his desire to face the winner of the upcoming bantamweight title match for his own shot at the belt.
