Cory Sandhagen walked through the doors of High Altitude Martial Arts/ETC Aurora in January of 2010. He is a real life story about how dedication, hard work, and perseverance can make dreams come true. It doesn’t matter where you come from, it doesn’t matter who or what you know, and it doesn’t matter what experience you think you have or don’t have. What matters is how bad you want it and how bad you’re willing to work to get to the top. As a young kid Cory set his goals at the very top, and he’s well on his way to becoming the champion. If he can do it, so can you.
Cory started attending Taekwondo when he was six or seven years old but ultimately quit because he wasn’t allowed to throw punches during sparring. He remembers being scolded many times for this so his parents decided that boxing is probably the better fit. He recalls his first pair of boxing gloves, purchased from Walmart with the American Flag imprinted on them. Sadly, the gloves ended up getting little use so he hung them up.
Cory was a 17 year old basketball player attending Smoky Hill High School when he enrolled at High Altitude to work on his general fitness and balance. Cory loved watching boxing and World Extreme Cagefighting, which interested him in MMA. After jumping into a few of Professor Christian Allen’s classes, he was hooked. Cory took every chance he could get to be at High Altitude. He headed to the gym right after school; and over the summers, he was there in the mornings and evenings.
Professor Christian saw something special in Cory and took him under his wing. Cory is widely known as Professor Christian’s protégé and while those are big shoes to fill, it drives and motivates Cory. Now it is Cory’s turn to take young, hungry fighters under his wing. Professor Christian and Coach Cory have a unique and fluid style. Together, they are developing the next generation of fighters.
After Cory received his degree in Psychology from the University of Colorado at Boulder, he moved back to Aurora, and now works part-time at a trauma center for children. He is also head of the youth kickboxing program at High Altitude Martial Arts. Two days a week, the youth kickboxing class gets a special treat with Coach Cory and Coach Ryan Solsbery. Cory loves teaching the kids and looks forward to it every week. He wants to show them their dreams can also come true! While turning them into little ninjas of course.
Cory has an impressive resume. He is an Easton BJJ brown belt and is a WAKO National and World Champion. He competed for Legacy Fighting Alliance from February 2017 to January 2018 where he successfully TKO’d two opponents in the first round.
Cory was on a 5 fight win streak since being signed with the UFC in January of 2018. He lost to Aljamain Sterling in June of 2020 and it sparked a new fire in him. Although all losses are hard, they teach you valuable lessons about yourself, the sport, and the world around you. He returned to the octagon last weekend against the #1 contender, Marlon Maraes – and returned he did; it was a dominant and beautiful performance filled with the “Sandman’s” flying knees and spinning kicks which ultimately ended the fight in the second round. He walked away with an impressive win, the Performance of the Night bonus, and a claim to a title fight for the Bantamweight UFC belt.
We are honored to have Cory teaching the youth at High Altitude. Stay tuned for our next blog about how kickboxing can benefit your children.
