Sandhagen KOs Edgar with brutal knee

Cory Sandhagen produced an early "Knockout of the Year" candidate during his bantamweight contest against Frankie Edgar.

Sandhagen finished Edgar with a flying knee 28 seconds into the first round of the UFC Fight Night co-main event on Saturday in Las Vegas.

Sandhagen, the No. 2-ranked bantamweight, has now won two straight fights since his first UFC defeat to Aljamain Sterling in June 2020.

"I'm a different monster than I was before I fought Aljamain Sterling," Sandhagen said in his postfight interview. "He taught me some lessons."

The 28-year-old, who's now 7-1 in the Octagon, said he deserves to challenge the winner of the March 6 bantamweight title fight between champion Petr Yan and Sterling.

"I know Yan has been talking about fighting TJ (Dillashaw) after that fight," Sandhagen said. "Let's see if he even wins that fight. That's garbage to me. Fight me. I'm the toughest guy next to Aljamain.

"And if Aljamain wins, I owe him a nap, and he's going to get that nap. The winner of those two gets knocked out by me in July."

Edgar, a former lightweight champion, suffered his first defeat at 135 pounds. He debuted in the division last summer and beat Pedro Munhoz by a split decision.

The future UFC Hall of Famer dropped to 1-3 over his past four outings, and he suffered his third-ever knockout loss.