Cory Sandhagen before UFC on ABC 7: Training with Trevor Wittman 'far exceeded my expectations'

ABU DHABI – Cory Sandhagen has a new addition to his coaching staff heading into UFC on ABC 7.

Sandhagen (17-4 MMA, 10-3 UFC) sought help from renowned coach Trevor Wittman ahead of Saturday’s main event (ABC, ESPN2, ESPN+) vs. Umar Nurmagomedov (17-0 MMA, 5-0 UFC) at Etihad Arena.

Wittman has been an integral part of the success of the likes of former UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman, former strawweight champion Rose Namajunas, and ex-interim champ Justin Gaethje.

“I’ve been with Trevor for about four months now,” Sandhagen told MMA Junkie on Tuesday. “Working with Trevor has been great. He’s super impressive. He really knows how to work with the athletes on the technical, strategic side of things. I haven’t met anyone better honestly. He far exceeded my expectations on what he was going to be, and that’s really cool because I didn’t really know.

“Although I have known Trevor for a really long time. I never worked this closely with him, and yeah, it’s really exciting. I really feel like me, Trevor, Ryan Hall, head coach Carrington Banks, they came up with the recipe for success in this one, and I just got to go out there and execute.”

Despite Nurmagomedov being ranked eight spots below him in the official UFC bantamweight rankings, he has Sandhagen’s full attention.

“This camp has been a handful,” Sandhagen said. “Fighting someone that’s this well rounded is a handful. So, it’s been everything. I really had to push myself really far in order to learn enough, understand things enough, and also the physical and mental preparation.

“You add in a really unique style of fighting with someone that’s really good at striking and really good at grappling, it makes you work really hard. So, I worked my ass off this camp.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ABC 7.