Cory Sandhagen, hailing from Aurora, Colorado, is an MMA artist who fights in the highly competitive bantamweight division of the UFC. He made his professional debut in 2015, and since then, he has been unstoppable. The psychology major is not only an MMA fighter, but he’s also a coach and has his institution. He started as a kickboxer, achieved significant success, and even won the WKA world title.

His history with combat sports and other sports in general started at a very young age in his hometown of Colorado. So let’s see where he was born and brought up and what his ethnic background is.

Where is Cory Sandhagen from? Ethnic background and birthplace

Cory James Sandhagen celebrates his birthday on April 20, 1992. He was raised in Aurora, Colorado, and went to Smoky Hill High School. Surprisingly, he was a basketball player during his high school years and has been passionate about it since his youth. However, after a while in high school, he started inclining towards kickboxing when he was not allowed to punch or kick in taekwondo. Sandhagen then won WKA world titles and finally went into mixed martial arts.

The versatile fighter also had a knack for psychology and enrolled at the University of Colorado. He graduated with a degree in psychology. Sandhagen is a true example of dedication and sticking to one’s goal. ‘Sandman’ proved that it does not matter where you come from; what matters is how badly you want a goal. He started taking Taekwondo lessons when he was about 6 or 7 years old, but he quit because he was not allowed to throw punches.

That is when ‘Sandman’ realized that boxing was his calling. He had purchased his very first boxing gloves from Walmart and had the American Flag printed on them. He was 17 when he was busy playing basketball, but then he entered the high-altitude gym, and it changed his life.

Since then, he has never taken a break from training. Professor Christian saw his potential and honed his skills. Sandhagen is known as the professor’s protegee, and together they developed his skills.

How did Cory Sandhagen start fighting?

He became an avid fan of MMA by watching World Extreme Cagefighting and competing in kickboxing. The fighter made his debut at the UFC in 2018. Then he went on to have a record of 10-3-0 in the promotion. He is set to face Umar Nurmagomedov in Abu Dhabi in August 2024. His zeal for fighting was already there from a very young age, and it was nourished by Professor Christian Allen and his coaches, like Trevor Wittman. He used to train with the Elevation Fight Team, and for the recent fight, he started training with Wittman.

Sandman is also a part-time worker at a trauma center for children and the head of the youth kickboxing program at High Altitude Martial Arts. He loves teaching kids who have the goal of becoming athletes or just becoming stronger. He is a BJJ brown belt winner and also competed in the Legacy Fighting Alliance from 2017 to 2018. The 32-year-old powerfully TKO-ed opponents in the first round. 

What do you think about his journey so far? Tell us in the comments below.