The Herd with Colin Cowherd - The Daniel Cormier Show - Cory Sandhagen on Sean O'Malley callout, Aljo & Merab losses, pursuit of UFC title

Episode Date: March 25, 2026

DC is BACK with another edition of the Daniel Cormier Show, this time featuring one of the most talented bantamweights in the UFC today, Cory Sandhagen. Cory talks about his upbringing in Colorado, and switching from basketball to fighting in his later teenage years. DC and Sandhagen also go back and look at his UFC career and the tough losses he had to take to Aljamain Sterling and Merab Dvalishvili in hopes to obtain a UFC championship. Plus, Cory dives into his callout of Sean O'Malley and why he feels he is deserving of that White House fight against Suga. Plus, check out Sandhagen talk about his journey to the UFC, and how his mental approach to the sport is so different than most people in the fight game. #VolumeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Hey, guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas.

We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it. But, you know, tired and sick. Tired and sick.

Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you. you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. The volume. What's up, guys? Welcome to a brand new episode of the Daniel Cormié show brought to you by Total Wireless, the official wireless provider of UFC. They're in your corner with unlimited 5G data that will not slow you down. And that is a total power move. You know it's a power move, having friends, friends that you can call on to come and do a show like this and having friends that have accomplished a lot. My guest today,

is one of the best band-in-weights in the world. He is Corey Sanhagen, fought for the UFC championship, has had viral knockouts, he's won fights. He's honestly one of the smartest guys in all the mixed martial arts. But Corey keeps you sharp. While he's joking, he doesn't smile, he doesn't laugh. He's one of the most genuine guys you could meet in this game, but he's an absolute killer when he's locked inside the octagon.

He still has dreams of becoming the UFC world champion. We'll get into that. We'll get into his upbringing and everything that makes Corey Sanhagen, Corey Sanhagen. Today I'm joined by the one and only. Corey Sanhagen. Corey, thank you so much, man.

How you doing, man? How you doing, my brother? I'm good. This chair is, I think, built for guys like you and not for skinny guys like me. Well, see, I put that, I, so last time, last time I put a black pillow behind me and I had a black shirt on, they go, D.C., how big are you, bro? Yeah. You need a bigger pillow.

Yeah, there it is. Hello, what's up? How you doing? I'm good, man. I'm good. You're a Colorado boy through and through. Yeah. Born and raised.

Yeah, you're sitting a little more comfortable. Born in Aurora, Colorado. Colorado is a beautiful place. But what was life like for you growing up there as a kid? Yeah, I grew up in the suburbs. I honestly, it was just like a normal Colorado suburban upbringing. I was a totally normal kid. My parents traveled a lot for work, so I was kind of all I did as a kid was play sports

growing up. I didn't, that was like my entire life. We were a sports family. I grew up playing basketball, so that's why I spent a lot of my time doing. I was outside playing all the time. We didn't really do like a lot of naturey stuff when I was a kid, but I would like snowboard, ski, just like all the Colorado stuff. So when your parents are traveling, like who are you with?

We were at daycare a lot. And then my parents had to kind of like alternate when they were around. So like when my mom was traveling, my dad would be home. They both worked for the post office, but my mom did sales. And then my dad was a postal inspector. So, yeah. So you do daycare and then they would kind of alternate picking you up and everything. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But yeah, it was totally normal, man. I don't really, I was kind of an aggressive kid growing up. I don't know where that came from, really. But I was just that way, you know. You've talked a lot about the influence your parents have had on your life. Are you guys still as close today? Yeah, we're tight. Yeah, I mean, yeah, we, yeah, we came a long way as a family growing up. But yeah, we're real close. My mom loves fighting. My dad's kind of, my dad's on the older end. He's like 74, 75, so he kind of, he'll still come to the fights, but there's a stint there where he couldn't come just because he would get so nervous.

Really? Yeah, he's just a little older too, but my mom loves it. My mom will be like, you see what this person said about you? Like, she's in all the MMA gossip and stuff. That's why I get most of it. How was dealing with that, right? Because for a lot of boys, making their dad proud is like the ultimate thing, right? But if it was making your father, like, you know, kind of like sick, how hard was it to, like, be accomplishing all these great things while knowing,

man, that's kind of messing with my dad. a little bit. Yeah, a little. So I wasn't forced to do anything as a kid. What do you mean? Like, we were, I was a sports kid because I wanted to. Like, I, dude, I thought I was going to be in the NBA. That is just the craziest thing. I had that

later in the interview, but that is just the craziest thing that you thought you were going to the NBA. Well, okay, so I knew I was short because I grew up really small too, but there's this guy Earl Boykins who used to play for the... No, Earl Boykins. He had big old ears, too. Yeah. He could dunk, though. He was

a good nugget. Yeah, yeah. I liked all of the short players, Alan Iversons. I liked all the guards, and I was like, I could do that, you know, because I'm fast and all of that. I thought I had it, but then it took me to about 16, 17, to realize that that probably wasn't happening. But you said you weren't forced to do anything. No, my parents let me do, no, I was given a lot of freedom. They were never like, hey, be good at this. Like, I was never pushed, you know? Like my parents were... Why? They just, that's just not their style. They just weren't like that. But I, I I always worked real hard. I think I got that from them. My grandparents are from Ireland. So my grandparents came over, immigrant family. My mom grew up in Queens, New York, real rough,

upbringing, kind of. And then she was just like a tough lady, and she made me tough. My dad's kind of on the softer end. My dad grew up in Iowa on a farm. And so I think I just got like a real good work ethic from the both of them. You speak about that work ethic. How important was seeing that, Right? Obviously, they're sacrificing time with all the travel and everything. But how important was that in framing who you became as a person, as a fighter, and as a person that works as hard as you do? I think it almost made it better. I mean, everyone kind of has their ways of becoming how they are. And I don't really know how people work completely. But I think because I was just given freedom to be how I wanted to, I just developed my own work. How much freedom did you actually have? Like, what do you mean?

Like, you keep saying you had all this freedom. I mean, they just kind of, they were like, oh, you want to try that? This is your canvas painted as you see fit. Yeah, pretty much. They let me be how I wanted to be. They were like, kind of okay with just me. Like, they were just cool like that. You know, not a lot of parents I know are like that,

and my parents were just cool like that. They just let me be an explorer who I wanted to be, and it kind of made me carve my own path, and it just made me kind of a little bit of a free thinker and all that, I think a little bit too. And yeah, they were good parents, man. I have great parents. I'm really lucky.

Yeah. So is that one thing specifically that you saw from your parents that really did stick with you as you're grown? I mean, they worked hard, dude. Like both of them worked real, real hard. My dad was a really sharp guy. Me and my dad were really close growing up. Me and my mom, not as much. We're much closer now.

But, yeah, my dad was, me and my dad were real tight, but he wasn't like a hovering dad. He kind of, I remember me and him used to go to church a lot, and we'd have conversations after church about, like, Like, hey, do we really think that that is true what they said? So I was kind of free to like explore stuff in my own way. And yeah, I remember me and my dad being really, really close. Which is kind of almost say like sad now because my dad's getting a little older. You know what I mean? Yeah, you'd want to be as close today, right?

Yeah. I mean, we are close. I'm definitely really nice to him now. Like I'm like, damn, you know, like dad's getting old, dude. You weren't nice to him before, Corey? I mean, I was a kid. Every teenager's not nice to them. parents, right? Is that true?

Were you nice to all year? Bro, I was the guy that my mom and dad. My mom was like, come substitute teacher at times at my school. My sister would, oh, I'm like running up to my mom. Oh, really? Everybody's like, yo, what?

What is wrong with you? I'm like, I like my mom. Yeah, that's cool. You aren't like that? Not really. No. What would you have done if your mom was walking on campus as a substitute teacher?

If I could describe my mom to you, she wouldn't even want me to run up to her and be like, really? Oh, yeah. She's kind of hard? Oh, yeah. She was tough, bro. I mean, she grew up in Queens, New York with Irish immigrant families that were raised in orphanages, you know what I mean?

So my mom was, yeah, she's a tough lady. She made me tough. Did your parents have an idea that you would be something special? No. They let you do. I mean, I knew I was good at sports. Like, I knew I was always better. than most people at doing anything athletic.

But, no, I mean, I was little, dude. And I think I went into high school. I was probably like 4'8, 4'8 foot 8, and then shot up one year. But no, I mean, I thought I had athletic dreams, but they didn't, you know? They didn't think, well, this dude. But would they cheering and screaming when you play in these basketball games? Not really, they didn't. I mean, they weren't really invested in it the way I was, you know?

Yeah. Just the way that we were. You talk about basketball. think you could have guarded me? You? Me, yes. Do you think you could have guarded me? Could you have guarded me?

Yes. No way. Locking you down, Corey. No way. I was fast. Corey. You look powerful, but I don't know. You're fast, too, though.

I'm pretty fast. Can you shoot? Dude, lights out. You can't shoot. I am lights off from the thing. No. My producer, Luis, I'd be busting his ass on the basketball court. Really?

We played three-point shootouts. I'd just be buzzing his ass. You don't. He doesn't. Well, position, core, you're a guard? Yeah, he started? Mm-hmm. Ding, Doug.

Yeah. I actually, you know what? Now that we're talking about it, I do think that a piece of the reason why I worked so hard at basketball is because the coach, the coach's son and me always competed for the starting spot. And so I was always, like, second in our, like, feeder teams all the way through high school and everything. And I was like, I got to beat this guy in everything. So I made sure that I did. Yeah. Yeah.

When did fighting enter into your life? When I was 17 and I started watching it on TV, I thought it was real cool. Just watching guys like Dominic Cruz, Uriah Fabor, Donald Seroni, all of those WEC guys, Aldo from way back in the day. And I remember just falling in love with the sport and just being like, I'm going to try that. And then when I did, it was a small pool. Like, you know, what year did you start fighting? I started fighting in 2009. Yeah, okay.

I was like 32. 31, I was going to turn. I think I was 30. Yeah, I was about to turn 31 years old. Yeah, so I started in 2009, too. So you know, at that time it wasn't as big. It wasn't as big. It wasn't popular.

And the rooms, like martial arts gyms weren't like member gyms. Like, you went to martial arts. To fight MMA. To, like, fight. Yeah. When you first walk into that gym, what are you thinking as a guy that's a basketball player? I thought I was going to be a lot worse at it. than I was, but then I realized I was like, oh, I'm like, I kind of have like a natural, I remember

we did a blue belt roll off that for like two weeks into me training and I got second place and I remember going home and telling my parents because my parents didn't like that I did it. Like they thought that I was like kind of working out issues through fighting. So yeah, they didn't really love that. It sounds like your parents are like those thinkers and like Corey, is there anything you want to tell us like? Yeah, kind of. Really?

Yeah, kind of. Yeah. And I was like, yeah, but I loved it just right. Right off the bat, I was obsessed with it. And I just had like a talent for it. Do you think that's your brain though? Like, do you think that you're like, do you think that like you said you're obsessed with it? Like do you have an obsessive personality?

Yeah, I do. When I get into things I get really into them, I'm super obsessed with progress. Like I don't burn out. Like, you know, training can get hard and our nervous systems can get overwhelmed or whatever. But I don't burn out because I still feel like I got a ton to learn. and that's just always been the case with me with this sport is. Chris Wyven was mentioning a book. It's called A 10-year rule.

They said you can only do something at a super high level for 10 years. Do you think that because you didn't have that pressure from your family and in the household, you are able to apply yourself to basketball and now mixed martial arts without really feeling it? Because even me as a young wrestler, I didn't get pressure from my parents, but my coaches put a lot of pressure on me. So then there were times where I'm like, I don't know if I want to wrestle anymore. And then I fell back in love with it as I got older.

But do you believe in that a 10-year rule that you can actually compete at something or focus on something for a decade? And then you start to kind of drift because you said you don't burn out. No, I've been doing it for 16 years and I don't feel that. At all? Maybe a little, but not hardly at all, no. Really? Yeah, like I'm obsessed with the progress piece, man.

I don't know if it's the way my brain is wired or what, but I'm mega obsessed with just being like, all right, this week I need to get better at this. And then, you know, I've just been doing that. What does that look like for you, though, like knowing that you're moving forward, not getting stagnant? Because you train with Trevor Whitman, right? And you haven't jumped a whole bunch of gyms.

You haven't mixed up a whole bunch of partners. You haven't done so many things to get a gauge. How do you measure that improvement when the situation isn't changing much around you? I just got really lucky with who and where I signed up at Nate Marquard's gym when I started. And then at the time, Trevor also had his gym grudge, which is where a ton of really good guys are. I remember that. Yeah, I just got really lucky, man. I just typed in on Google, like, where do I do martial arts?

And Nate's gym was just 10 minutes from my house. And so I just got really lucky. And so a lot of it is that. Like I just got really lucky in who I got to train with. And a lot of who I am and the way that I think is because of past coaches too. And I think, you know, no one does anything completely on their own in life. And I just got really lucky that I had really good people helping me right off the bat. Do you think there was a moment where when you're in those gyms and you're learning,

MMA, right? Because it's a lot of learning early. And that's when you can see. the improvements. Right now when you become a world-class fighter, when your championship level, it's very incremental, right? It's very small, small things where you improve. But in those moments when you're early and you're really raw, you see those big jumps, was there a moment where you wait, this is my path? Like, this is the path. This is what's going to make me be what I want to be in life. Yeah, kind of. I didn't really have aspirations to be a UFC champ. I feel like

my entire life, I've just done things that I think are super fun. And so that's just always what I've tried to do. And it probably wasn't until other people started telling me that I should fight and I should compete and that I could be really good and I could be a champ. And like I said, it was coming from really high-level people. Like, it was coming from UFC fighters and all of that. And they were telling me that. And I was like, oh, okay, like, I guess they know what they're talking about. So I just do it, you know? And that's how you decided you wanted to fight professional? Yeah, I kind of I didn't like competition in the beginning. See, that's the thing that's a thing that most athletes have.

It's just that burning desire to compete. Like, bro, I would try to beat you in video games. I try to beat you to pressing the elevator if we're walking somewhere together. That sounds tiring. It makes you, it makes me very annoying. Yeah, that's pretty annoying. I know. I wouldn't be like that because I don't want to be annoying.

But that annoying thing? Yeah. allowed me to go and accomplish all these great things because I was always in competition. Yeah. But to hear you say competition didn't come naturally for you, like, how do you foster that?

I had to learn how to love it. Like, I feel like everything you just have to learn how to love. Like, we can trick ourselves into some crazy shit as people. Yeah, you can. And I've tricked myself into just loving the competition piece, and now I really love it. But like I said in the beginning, I just like training.

I like going into the gym, getting better, being like cool, I got good at this. And then that's just kind of always how I saw it. Now I really like competing. Like I almost feel like I live for it. My life, I feel like the structure of it and my purpose and goals and stuff. When they're not there, the structure of my life gets crazy and it just feels chaotic in my head and I hate it, which is kind of where I am. Like any time that you don't have a fight, did you feel like that?

Yeah. Lost almost. Yeah, I just feel lost. And yeah, so I don't like that feeling. So now I feel like competition gives me like a ton. a structure. How are you dealing with that, though? How are you dealing with that feeling inside your mind where,

so I have a kid that was on my wrestling team, and he was like a little bit of a bad kid. But the moment the season started, he was so locked in. I mean, he was perfect. But in the moment it was over, he could be a bad kid again. I can relate to that. Yeah. How do you deal with that in life now as a man?

Right. You don't have this thing, right? You haven't fought for a while since you fought for the belt. It's like you want to fight. How do you deal with the thoughts in your mind of, man, my purpose feels missing? Probably not very healthy, maybe. Like, I have to keep myself busy. Like, you can ask my wife.

My wife hates that my brain works the way that it works. Like, I have to be doing something. TV doesn't do it for me. Reading does because I'm kind of like locked in on reading. Like, it's something that I have to sit there and pay attention to. but I have to just do a bunch of things, dude, or else I'll get crazy. I like doing creative stuff.

I like writing now. That's kind of like one of my bigger things that I'm really enjoying. I used to hike a lot. I used to go to the gym a lot. But I just have to keep myself busy or else I become a insane person. What do you do?

I write. What do you do when you don't have those things? I do. I just find something else to do. He said you becoming insane. insane person. Yeah. Has it ever happened?

Well, you just kind of like... It's just like a loss feeling, you know? It's like a... It's not like insane in my behavior as much as it's insane

and just inside my head, I just feel chaotic. I would feel sad. Yeah. Like when I didn't have anything, I would almost get like, almost depressed, right? I needed something to move me.

Yeah. And then when I didn't have that, it almost felt like a sadness would come along with me. It was very weird. Yeah, it's a weird feeling. For me, I don't really

I don't really pay attention to my feelings a lot so I don't know that I necessarily feel sad or anything I mean I pay attention to my feelings but I don't give them too much attention I'm like oh okay I'm sad or I'm angry or I'm whatever today

but it doesn't bother me I'm just like oh that's how I am today you know because we're weird like people are weird like for whatever reason we have bad days that feel sad or depressed or angry or whatever and I just don't pay attention to it.

I'm like, okay, what do I got to do today to get better at fighting or get better at whatever it is that I'm trying to get better at? Do you ever take those days where you're like, man, I don't really love the way I'm going today. I'm going to rest. Yeah, I do. I usually have one day like that in training camp because I do 12-week camps. And I usually have one day where I'll call the coaches and be like, guys, I cannot come in today. Like I need a day to just sit and just not really.

rest my body, but just rest my mind on stuff. So I do get those days, but they're kind of far in between. But yeah, I don't know, man. The more I kind of think about it and the more that I reflect on a lot of stuff, I do think... I try to be normal because I think normal's inspiring,

but I do know I got something unique about me in the level of push that I can do, and the consistency of push that I can do, I think I haven't seen in a ton of other people. Do you worry that kind of putting stuff away when it's trying to show itself will come up later in your life and you'd be like have to deal with all those emotions?

Because I do that bad. I'm a compartmentalizing person. Like, I'm the best at it. I can be like super jacked up and go, eh, I'm just going to go to work today. Nobody from the outside will see that anything is bothering me because I just don't want to feel that way today. That's what I'm saying, though. So you have that control over yourself. Yeah.

I think that sports teaches you that. I think that sports teaches you how to or competition or a goal or some type of purpose or whatever in all of us. I think it gives us something to ignore our feelings about and still drive forward. But they will show at some point. Yeah, definitely. Oh, you think so? Corey, Corey, I'm telling you, they are going to come.

Why? How do they come out for you? Like when you push something down, bunch? What's it look like? When it comes out bad, it's bad. Okay, for example, when I was, wrestling, when I was younger, obviously I lost a kid, a daughter, very young, and I just suppressed it. And then I started going to practice, and I couldn't get through a practice without like bawling. Yeah. Like, I could not get through anything that was horrible. without like completely breaking down because I needed to deal with those things that were inside of me

that just were knocking like please let me out let me out let me out then eventually I let it out and what had letting it out look like though crying and shit just like and I went and saw somebody and started being to sports psychologists and all kind of stuff to kind of learn to deal with my emotions and when it was time to let it out how have you dealt with your loss to maraub what did you do I just I just tell my stuff I got to get better man like onward you know like whether I win or lose any fight nothing changes on that Monday coming up you know it's just like all right whether I win or lose I still got stuff to work on like I have a whole checklist going into every week or every month of what it is

that I got to work on big time and that's that's just that's literally where I put all of my attention yeah yeah but that's interesting I don't know I think that uh um yeah I mean I've probably had to deal with some stuff that I shoved down for a really long time. But I think that sports helped me work through that still too. And possibly punching and kicking people is like a release for. I never saw it like that. It was always a sport to me. I don't like hurting people.

Really? Yeah, I know that some people like hurting people. And that's okay. You're in the right sport, you know, if you're doing that. But I never got, the only thing I cared about was building skills. That's all that I cared about. This is literally all that I cared about. Really?

Yeah. Everything else I kind of was able to just be like, whatever, that's just a feeling or whatever, that's just this or that's just that. Everything for my entire life has just been, what do I got to get better at today and tomorrow? Corey, before you became a full-time fighter, you worked in a trauma center with kids? Yeah, I used to work. It was called Mount St. Vincent's. That place taught me a ton of stuff about myself. I wanted to maybe do social work when I was. grown up. I went to school for psychology. And I kind of, I grew up in, so Aurora is kind of a weird place because it's Colorado, but it's very diverse in the types of people that you'll get, or at least for Colorado. But I grew up with poor friends, rich friends, you know, black, brown, white, all kinds of different friends. And I remember everyone just coming from different places. And we were not wealthy. We were like normal, suburban, like both my parents worked for the

government, so we were never hungry or anything like that. But I had a lot of friends that were like that. And I always remember reflecting a lot of it too is just, I think, growing up religious too and having conversations with my dad about that and just reflecting on like, why do I not have to deal with what my friend has to deal with? Which were like really heartbreaking stories. And I think that a part of me wanting to go and do social work is because I wanted to help all my old friends just be, just, help them out, you know, because I feel like compared to them, I was very fortunate. How did that, like, how did that experience shape you?

Well, it taught me a lot about self-awareness, because the kids that we would work with all came from very traumatic pasts, and we had to learn how to work with them, which meant learning how, like, we operate. So I remember when I first started working there at 22, I remember being like, oh, So when this kid starts wandering or starts being fidgety or something, he has something inside of him going on. And I was like, what do I do when I have something going on inside of me? And then I just started building a lot of self-awareness.

But I don't think I would have been able to go down that path had it not been for working at that place. So I owe that place and those kids, I feel like a lot in just my, like who I am now. That changes you when you see kids going through, hard times, right? Like you said, you were aware enough as a kid to recognize the differences in life. And our life at times can seem a bit unfair.

But you're already fighting. While you're not fighting full time, you're fighting and working in this situation. Does that change a little bit of the mentality when it comes to the fighting and the approach? Like, do you realize, like, man, It's just fighting and I could potentially make a boatload of money in this or I could lose. But ultimately it's not that.

Yeah. It's not what these kids are going through. It was that. I think I had two major experiences when I first started training that shaped me into like full dedication and shaped me into being like I'm doing this. When I was 18, I lost my best friend. And I remember that was like my first close experience with losing someone that I really, really love. loved and cared about a lot. And I remember being like, oh, so this thing doesn't last forever.

Life, you mean. Life. And I was like, I'm just going to do, I'm literally just going to do what makes me happy regardless of what type of situation it puts me in. And to address, go ahead. Could I ask you what happened? Yeah, he, I mean, he just, just college stuff. He just got drunk and fell on his, you know, he fell.

And then he was in ICU for a while. and he hit his head hard enough to not be able to make it through. Really? Yeah, it was really tough on all of us. His name was Ross. I'm still really close with all of his family. But that was a big thing for me at 18. That's a big thing for anyone to just be like, whoa, death is real.

You know, like that. And then to try to wrap your head around that for real is sometimes very difficult. But, yeah, it just kind of made me be like, man, I'm not doing this bullshit that. Like, I'm just not going to do some bullshit. it with my life that I don't want to do. And I'm not going to play by the rules that other people are playing by because I'm going to do this thing the way that I want to do. Which is what makes me a little weird too, but...

Which you know. Oh, I'm just saying, but does it... It would seem like pressure for you is different than for most, whenever you see life in the way that you do. Because most people can get crushed by pressure. You don't come off as a guy that will ever get crushed. get crushed by pressure. There's no way that you could hurt me.

Like, I went on this whole, I don't even want to call it a spiritual thing because I think that's corny, but I did go through some years where I was like, just, I was just, I was just like, I'm just going to do this thing how I want to do it.

And like, the pressure, all of that stuff, I was like, I mean, who really cares anyways? You know what I mean? Like, I've always believed in if I'm doing my best, I'll die a happy guy. When I'm done with my career and I know that I put every single ounce of everything into it,

that's where, what else can I do? I can't do anything more than that. And we can't all be LeBron James. We can't all be Khabi, and I'm not an undefeated guy, and I've lost, and that doesn't hurt me. You know what I mean? The same way that I think it maybe hurts other people just because that's not where I put my attention.

I just put my attention in building skills and trying. Does your wife like this approach? Because it would seem like it would allow for a lot less stress, especially going back into the house after the last fight. You know, when I would lose a fight, I would literally be in my room for like a month. And I would put like black curtains over the windows. I would just go mourn.

Yeah, I've been there too. I mean, I do. I mean, that is a part of it also. But that's just the body doing what the body is going to do. You know, that's just us really wanting something, and then the universe not giving it to us, and that can, like, really hurt us sometimes. But once you kind of snap out of that,

because we do get hurt and we do have feelings. But once you snap out of that, it's like, oh, okay, because there is a grieving process, but if we were in control of it, we would move past it quick, you know, but it's not in our, you know, we don't get to decide some things about ourselves. So many fighters rush to the Internet after they lose because they want to feel better. They don't want to sit in that sadness.

I think it's the dumbest thing in the world today. When you have Instagram, when you lose a fight, how quickly do you visit Instagram? When I lose, like a couple weeks, I won't read anything. There's most fighters, especially young ones, on the way back from the octagon,

they go, tonight wasn't my night, but I'll be back. You want to know why I think they do that? Why? Because generally the people that are following you, they want to support you. Yeah. So what messages do they get when just tonight just wasn't my night? You'll be back, champ.

We also love you. Oh, stuff like that. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's why young fighters do that. Yeah, I have a really low... I don't trust people to, like, tell the truth most of the time. So I don't even, like, play with people's ideas. about that stuff because a lot of the time, like you said,

they're just trying to make me feel better anyway. But that's what they want to do, right? Because that emotion feels like it's what you want to hear. But in reality, you should separate yourself because you should live in that to make sure that you're not doing it over and over and over again. People do, I made a mistake and I got caught. No, you lost.

Most of the guy was better. Yeah, I mean, my favorite thing after anyone loses is especially on like the team or something they'll come back and they'll be like oh you know it was something mental or it was this and it was that and it's like yeah there are this whole thing is X's and O's

you do the right thing at the right time you win there's like mental X's and O's too where you got to think in a certain way and that like will up your odds of winning and stuff but a lot of the time it's not mental it's like dude that guy was just better than you and that's okay

that's okay we literally can't all be LeBron James, but you can try as hard as LeBron James. And maybe you'll turn into LeBron James, or you'll write a better story than LeBron James. But you're not going to be able to do that if you don't get to work, you know? Hey, it's us to Jonas Brothers, and guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, huge news? We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas, we invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there. But this one's extra special.

So how do we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band. Before Jonas Brothers was... This is how you guys remember it going down?

Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, where people could call in and say, hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. You know, I've lost in some big spots. NCAA finals, Olympic bronze medal match, Olympic semi-finals, John Jones fights, Stepe Fight. But I'm like, well, what if I didn't take my shot? Right? You can write your story and you can build a pretty nice. story, even if you're not, Kail Sanderson, are those guys, right?

And I don't think enough people take the chance on themselves because people don't think big enough at times, but you thought big, right? You take this thing and you say, I'm going to do it the way I want to do it. That leads to you being seven and one, you get the call from the UFC. What do you remember about that first fight and what you felt like walking into the octagon? Was it nerves? Was it fear? What were the feelings going through Corey Sanagan on the night?

Yeah, so by that time I had gone down that little stint of like self-exploration or spiritual, whatever stuff, where I really sat down with my ego and I asked myself where all of these things were coming from. And I really, man, I really tried to turn myself into a person that just can't be hurt by the things that life throws at me. Yeah. And so by that time in the U.S. see, I was really good at being really fearless. And I still carry that with me because I know that like a loss will hurt and it will suck,

but it's not going to impact me. Like, it's not going to change the soul of me. So that kind of stuff is just like, whatever, you know? Just keep it moving. That's it. How much that obviously helped you because in big moments you've had to deal with some huge setbacks, right?

I think back to the Al Jermaine Sterling fight. You won five in a row. You're in this fight with title implications, right? Some people come into this thing with massive expectation. I don't know if you were one of those guys. Yeah, a little bit. A little bit, right? But when you get to that spot,

and it doesn't even feel like you get a chance to compete, how hard was that? How difficult was that for Corey San Higgins? Yeah, that one definitely hurt the most because it wasn't, One, it was the first one, and two, it was my first time being finished, which was just not cool with me. I reacted to that one, I think, in a really positive way in that I worked really, really hard after that one to, like, really dial in some things that I just didn't know about. But a lot of losing, too, man, is like, oh, I didn't know any better. You know what I mean?

Like, how much of the guys that you coach is like, it's okay, man, like, you just literally, you just didn't know that move or you just didn't know how to do that. And like how much can you beat yourself up over that? And I think that life sucks and this sport sucks a lot. And you can either have a good attitude about it or you can have like kind of a crummy attitude about it. But regardless of what attitude you have about it, it's still going to come with its trials and it's still going to come with it sucks. So to me it's just, I'm just going to not let it impact. I mean, it does impact my joy, but it doesn't really touch me as deep as, you know, it may be hit. other people.

You always talk about not feeling pressure. You don't feel pressure. Do you think that's helpful or hurtful in those big spots, like where you almost like, you don't realize that, I mean, there's pressure being a world champion. Or you ignore the pressure of being a world champion, and then sometimes it doesn't work out. Yeah, I mean, I acknowledge that it's important to me.

and I think a lot of people feel pressure because they are afraid of external stuff. I still go into a fight fully being like, no, I personally care about winning this fight a lot. I personally care about doing the best. But that doesn't feel like pressure. That feels like just me having, you know, it's time to hit a home run,

like lock in and try to hit the home run. It's not a, it's not like a, oh, if I don't hit this home run, so-and-so won't like me, or I won't accomplish this amount of financial whatever or I won't accomplish this type of dream that I've had. It's not that. It's just like an acknowledgement that I really care about this so I'm going to do this as best that I can.

And that's, you know. When you said something that said, I felt like I got caught in the river current after that. What did that mean? After the Sterling fight? Yeah, you said, I felt like I caught in the river current, then you ultimately came back into your own river. He said you got back into your own river.

What did you mean there? That was a long time ago. I don't even remember the context of it. But if you hear that, what do you think? I probably got swept away with some of that pressure stuff because I am a human being and every single person goes through the pressure piece. And sometimes we get swept away, especially nowadays because everything's in our face. And I feel like the bar of what people want you to accomplish

is very, very high now because everyone's like so accessible and everyone's showing off everything and all of this stuff. So it feels very, like it's just easy to get caught up and swept away and external stuff. But it's the nicest part about losing is remembering that, no, no, no, like this,

you're doing this for you. It's a nice feeling about losing one of the few. The next five, Frankie Edgar. Dude, you're fighting a former champion. The next one was Marlon Marais. Or Marlon. But then when we get to Frankie Edgar, that's what I want to get to.

Frankie. You get to Frankie Edgar, a future Hall of Famer, former world champion, flying knee knockout. Bro. That was one of the craziest knockouts of all time. Yeah, that was a good one. Was that something you practiced and said, oh, my God, I know he's going to go forward

and this is going to happen? And how's it feel whenever all those thoughts really show themselves in the fight? like that. Yeah, it felt good. I was kind of in, yes, you know, honest, if I'm being really honest, that fight could have gone that way or it could have gone a million other ways. It was not luck because it's something that I definitely practiced, but to say that I was fully in control of knocking Edgar out is, it's like two dance partners. It's me and him. So he had a lot of saying that. I just didn't get lucky in landing that,

but I just, that's just what happened in that fight. And it could have gone a thousand different ways and it went that way and that's great and you roll the dice enough times, you'll knock some people out too, you know? Like, that's why I don't trip out after even like a not so great win is because it's like, oh, you know, like

not all of this is totally all in my control. I don't get to go out and just starch people and put them out and walk away the exact same way that I want to. It's not up to me sometimes. It's up to the universe and then and and that's just how it is So you just keep it moving

Were you a little scared when he was out like that bad It was bad Were you a little scared? Yeah I was a little scared And it was at the apex It was dead quiet, it was dead quiet dude Dude It was I remember when I got done yelling

Because I was celebrating And still really into it I remember being like Oh shit You know like shit his kids His kids saw that Because I don't like hurting people This thing's a big giant sport to me

So that was sad How do you deal with that, though, that desire to not hurt people in a sport that is as violent as anything in the world? Yeah. Just don't think about it. Really? I mean, he's all right, right? Well, he is now, but he didn't. Yeah, but that's what I mean is he's all right now.

It's not like anything severely damaging happened to him. And also, that could have easily happened to me, too. So it's just, and I would have been all right. You know what I mean? It's like, we're not killing each other literally. So like, you know, anytime that, anytime someone's going through something really hard or something bad happens or whatever, it's like,

but did you die, you know? Yeah, people say that all the time. Yeah. People say, but did you die? And I'm like, well, could have. What I'm trying to find pity, right? Like, I'm like, well, I kind of could have. He maybe could have.

Yeah. That would have been sad. I probably would have quit after that. Yeah, of course. I think most people would if something like that happened. You fought some really high-level competition. How much have you grown in those moments, win or lose? Yeah, I mean, I've had to.

That's the piece of my career that I'm super pumped about is I've literally had to get good at things that I maybe wouldn't have wanted to get good at things or maybe wouldn't have if I wasn't fighting that level of competition. But I'm literally fighting some of the best fighters in the entire world. That's why I had to become a good wrestler is because it's like, hey, Corey, like, you could do this striking stuff, but then you're going to run into someone that's going to be able to take you down and hold you down like Al Jermaine did. And that's not going to be very fun. And so it's like just fighting that caliber, a person literally, you either have to get better or you just lose and your career is over.

But I mean, you are fighting the best of the best. And even just sharing the octagon with those people, it's like you feel yourself leveling up. Yeah. I remember after we left in Abu Dhabi, when you and Umar fought, Umar just could not sing your praises. anymore because of your abilities and who you are inside the octagon. Corey, you speak a lot about mental, right? You talk about manifestation,

you talk about visualization. Is that a power move of yours in regards of you use it against other fighters knowing that you have a mental edge over most? I think that all of the mental stuff just puts you in a better place to where the opportunity that you'll have to win just gets higher. So it's not like there's no secret sauce to any of this shit. Like you know, it's just you win or you lose and it's not like because someone's doing X in training camp or training with X in training camp. There is no secret sauce.

It's it's, um, you either win or you lose. and, but I do think that believing in yourself, like, that's something that I've kind of, Trevor's helped me a lot with in the last couple of years is being like, hey, man, you have to have like an unbreakable belief in yourself where I thought confidence was just something that you just kind of, like, faked, you know, but Trevor's been helping me believe, like, truly believe, like, hey, no matter what happens, you're going to win this fight. And telling myself that, whether it's a delusion or not, doesn't matter. It still puts, me in a place in my mind that's going to give me the best chance at winning. So when I fought

Marab and I got dropped in the second round, that if I didn't fully believe in my heart that I was still going to go win that fight, that fight, he could have finished me in round three, round four, whatever. But I believed I was still winning that fight all the way up until the very last bell. I didn't. So my belief was wrong. But I believe that that's the reason that I was able to fight the rest of that fight well and not get finished or have anything worse happen. Are you a naturally confident person? I think so. Yeah.

I think so. I don't know. What do you think? Do you think I am? I don't really know. Really? I don't know. I guess.

I don't really know. I think confidence is like, confidence isn't to me much of like an X and O, so I don't care about it a ton. You know? There's one of my favorite quotes. So you literally live in. do the right thing at the right time and you win. Yeah.

That's where I live. Do the right thing at the right time and you win and be in a headspace that's going to give you the best opportunity to win. And that's all that I care about. Mental. How important is that to fighting, no? Because I've heard people say stuff like wrestling is 10% physical, 90% mental. Do you buy into like mental is more important than physical in a fight? No, I think that they're both equally as important.

If you're mentally strong as shit, but you suck, like your skills suck, like you're going to lose. Yeah, you're going to lose, you know, most of the time. Fighting is interesting, though, because and wrestling's really unique too, because you can get someone tired and break them and then... Still win. And still win. So, like, mental fortitude and mental toughness is incredibly important in our sport in particular, because we have one of the most exhausting sports in the entire world, too. like football players

NBA players I'm sure they get tired but they don't get tired like we get tired you know so we have to be able to be strong enough to still make good decisions under like incredibly high levels of fatigue

so stress and that's like that's something that's really truly unique and I do think that fighting is way more mental in that regard than all of the other sports do you practice

like meditation and mindfulness before fights and and if so what does that look like Yeah, I try to be present. What do I do? It's kind of, it's just, it's like transformed so much through the years that it's kind of hard to describe. But I do think, like I said, man, I think that putting yourself in a state of belief where you're going to win and you'll do anything to win and you totally buy into that with your heart, that's important.

You know, that's as important as being really technically skilled. Corey, the reason I was so drawn to you is because your personality and humor. It's dry, but it's very funny. I don't think I've laughed more than that time we did that live stream. But you lie, man. Yeah, I'm a liar. He said some crazy stuff.

You said you were homeless at one point. He did the only fans think. But humor is a big part of Corey Sanagan. Why is it so important in a sport that's so violent? to have a sense of humor and I look at your threads and I'm like, what is he talking about? I know.

I'm just laying in bed thinking, dude. Yeah, why a sense of humor important? I feel like because this thing is an entertainment sport too and you know that, so I have to be like a something to people and I don't want to be a douche. I don't want to like come off negative and trash talkie and all of that stuff.

So the way that I can do those things, The way I can be unique in a sport where it's kind of saturated with like machoness and talking shit and stuff is to be a lot more lighthearted. And I'm tough too. Like I'm rough in my head too. Like I'm not like, oh, this is silly. You know, like I still want to beat up my opponents really bad. Like I don't. But as far as like the personality of who people have to fall in love with and build rapport around, I'd rather than build rapport.

and some type of connection with me through thinking that I'm funny versus thinking that I'm a dick. Yeah, for sure. Because I could be a dick too. I definitely can be a dick. I just, you know, I don't want to show those sides of me. Corey, you recently called out Sean O'Malley

for a fight. Wanted to fight him at the White House or anywhere else. Why is Sean O'Malley right now? It's the only fight that makes sense for the both of us. One, two, I like the fight. I know that I'll beat O'Malley, and I know that there's a lot of people that are like, oh, Corey's going to take him down, he's going to wrestle. Like, I'll out strike O'Malley too. So that one just bugs me and irks me that. I mean, you know, like, we got egos. Like, I know that I'm better than him,

and I want to go beat him, and I want to prove that I'm the better striker. I'm the better fighter, just all around in general, and that's why I want to fight him. And it makes the most sense right now. And I hate the way that he answers questions when he gets asked about me because he, He said he's never turned down a fight against you, though. Never. He said he's never been offered a fight against Corey Sanhagen that he said no to. So is he blaming it on the UFC not wanting that fight then? I don't know.

I'm just telling you. I mean, because I'm asking for the fight. I don't know. Sean's been on the record for being like, this is a business to me. I want to take the easiest fight for the most amount of money. As a fan, like, Sean as a person, I'm not going to carry any hatred towards him or jealousy. or anything like that. I like Sean as a person.

As a fan, I don't think the way that that type of character or whatever is interesting or inspiring at all. I think that one of the most biggest gifts that we have as athletes to give to people is inspiration to like go do something cool with your life too. That means stepping up to the plate, taking big risks like I have in my entire career. I do it for me, but I also do it because inspiring and giving back, that's one of the few ways that I get to do that in this sport is by inspiring people. It's like, why would you take a fight against Umar?

He's down in the ring. Because if I win, then I get to inspire a bunch of people. If I go out and I beat Marab or I beat Jan or whatever, I get to inspire a bunch of people because I know that I took the hard road to get here. O'Malley's not about that life, so I can't be like a fan of that dude in that way. on a personal level, I think he's good. I think he's just a normal other human being trying to do his best in life

and he has his values, but as like a fan, I just can't respect that much. You think that he's avoiding the match? Why? Watch the way that he answers all of the questions. I don't know why. I honestly don't know why. Because you're about as big a name in the division as there is.

That and it's the biggest fight. Neither one of us lose anything in that fight by fighting each other. If Sean, in a worst case scenario for him, he goes out and he loses. He doesn't lose anything, man. Like, I'm established. I'm known as one of the best in the division. So why don't you want to fight from a perspective of my own?

From his perspective, it's like, Corey's a tough fight. Why would I take a tough fight when I could take an easier fight and make just as much money? That's, like, not the type of thinking that I walk around in life with. So we're just different, and that's okay. but yeah I definitely think he doesn't want that fight or else I think it'd be booked by now are you going to keep staying on him to try to get it yeah until yeah pretty much that's the fight to make there's literally no other reason he's in the same spot as me his fight against song was not title can like title worthy in my opinion it was a slow fight song almost won

Sean did what he had to do but it wasn't like he went out there trying to hit a home run and when I go out and fight I fight like entire time. Like, that's something that you can't take for me. Like, I'm going to go out there and I'm going to fight you hard. And I try really hard, too, to kind of pander a little bit to the fans and to the UFC and being an exciting guy and taking more risks and just pressing people and being in their face and being impossible to hold down. Like, I do all of that so that these things are exciting and fun to watch. And it's cool, efficient-looking martial arts. And not everyone does that in the sport. And sometimes I do, if I'm, if I'm being really honest, I do get a little bit jealous that other

people maybe get rewarded for not doing that, where I know that that's what I'm doing, but that's just the way that I handle things, and he does it differently. Before I let you go, when there's things all said and done, and you retire, what do you want people to remember about Corey Sanagan? That he was one of the best champions to ever do it because he didn't give up. He had a hard road. he took some losses, but he still got to wear gold.

And in a worst case scenario, if I don't ever get to wear gold, I still hope that people get to look at my career and say, I can respect that dude because he didn't cut any corners. He did everything that he could. And whether the odds were in his favor or not, he still showed up and he still tried his best.

Yeah. And I'm okay with that. I can live with that. And either way, that's Corey Sanagan. You become the champ, you don't become the champ. You'll be Corey because that's what you're. you are right exactly i'm i'm the guy that just i took risks i did everything that i could i tried to make this thing as exciting for fans and for myself because i hate watching boring fights like i hate

it so i i like to do it for myself too i want i want to look back on my entire career and be like damn dude you performed really good yeah like you were a great mind for the sport you you tactically did things really well like i just want to go down as one of the greatest that's always is what I've wanted to do. And whether I do or not, that's up to the world's narrative about me. But to me, I know that I'll always have acted

and been a champion in my heart whether I get to wear gold or not. You're a man. You're a man. Cory Sanhagen. Guys, Corey Sanhagen, one of the smartest guys. Well-thought, tremendous fighter,

tremendous person. I cannot wait to see what you have next up because whatever it is, you guys know to be front. Make sure you guys go tapping everything Corey's doing. Thank you again for joining me, Corey, and thank you guys for watching another episode of the Daniel Cormier show. Corey Sanagan, I'm D.C. Peace.

Peace. Hey, guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas.

We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it, but, you know, tired and sick. Tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.