With current bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling having delayed his rematch with Petr Yan again due to a persistent neck injury, the UFC has opted to go ahead with an interim title fight instead.
That means that Cory Sandhagen will now step in to fight Yan for the interim title in the co-main event of UFC 267 at Fight Island on October 30th.
Of course Yan’s last outing was against the aforementioned Sterling, and he appeared to be getting the better of the action, before landing an illegal knee to his downed opponent late in the fourth round that led to his disqualification, and as a result his opponent taking the title.
That DQ also ended Yan’s 10-fight winning streak that had also seen him beat the likes of Jose Aldo, Urijah Faber and Jimmie Rivera, and has left him straining at the leash to be given the opportunity to fight for the belt again.
Sandhagen has also had title aspirations in recent times after a 63 second TKO victory over Marlon Moraes was followed up by a 28 second KO of Frankie Edgar, but he’s since come out on the wrong end of a split-decision verdict against TJ Dillashaw back in July.
However, With Dillashaw now on the sidelines recovering from knee surgery, the No.3 Sandhagen has been handed a golden opportunity to fight for the interim belt.
With Yan vs. Sandhagen booked, UFC 267 now proceeds with a card that will remain headlined by a light-heavyweight title encounter between current champion Yan Blachowicz and Glover Teixeira.
