UFC bantamweight Cory Sandhagen wants to return to the Octagon in May and he’d like to fight on the card currently scheduled for the Pechanga Arena in San Diego.

Riding a seven-fight winning streak, he thought that chance was going to come against former bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz, but according to Sandhagen, the 35-year-old is no longer interested in the fight or being on the card.

"What I know to be true is that (Cruz) asked to fight in San Diego, I’ve been asking for a fight from any of those guys ahead of me, (Petr) Yan, (Marlon) Moraes or Aljamain (Sterling),” Sandhagen told TSN’s Aaron Bronsteter. “Then I heard that Cruz was looking for a fight and I thought perfect, I wanted to get something in May at the latest. I think the UFC was on board with doing that fight and then from what I understand, Cruz asked to also be on that San Diego card and then changed his mind and didn’t want to fight on the card. You can interpret that however you want, but that’s the information that I got.”

While it might seem as though that scuttled the fourth ranked UFC bantamweight’s chances of being on the May 16 card, Sandhagen says they are close on an agreement to fight another of his prospective opponents.

"There is an opponent that we’re likely going to do,” said Sandhagen. “I’m not sure how much I can talk about it, but it’s probably your second guess from Dominick Cruz.”

When pressed by Bronsteter on if Sterling was the fighter out of the three previously mentioned, the Colorado native did not confirm, but also did not deny the suggestion.

"That seemed to be your second guess, I don't know how much I can say about it though.”

Sandhagen was supposed to face Frankie Edgar in January, before the former lightweight champion was moved to a December bout against The Korean Zombie Chan Sung Jung.

He was subsequently removed from the Raleigh, North Carolina card after a suitable replacement could not be found.

Sandhagen is not sweating the idea of signing up for another fight with the threat of future cards being cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and will listen to the medical professionals advice on if it’s safe to return to the Octagon.

"Whether it’s the right thing to do or not, I don’t think is up to me really,” said Sandhagen. “That’s why we have the experts working on this. I can have whatever opinion I want about all of this, which is that I don’t like it, but what does my opinion matter?”

"I’m not an expert, I don’t know anything about viruses, I don’t know a lick about science. I’m not going to take it less serious because it would work better for me, that’s why we have experts. If they say that we can fight and it’s safe, then cool. If they say that’s not the case, what can I do?”

With his gym, Elevation Fight Team, closed in a time of self-quarantine and social distancing, Sandhagen is using any means available to him to stay ready for a future bout.

"I’m just getting together with two other guys, they aren’t leaving their house other than to train also, we’re still at the 10 and under thing, so we’re following the regulations on social isolation,” said Sandhagen. “Until they tell us otherwise and then we’ll stop that. I guess I’ll have to do a lot of wrestling with my dog and my girlfriend while we’re locked in here. I’ll figure something out, but it’s definitely not ideal, definitely not getting in the training I would like to be getting in. I’m making due the best I can for now.”