Petr Yan vs. Cory Sandhagen for interim bantamweight title set for UFC 267

Petr Yan will be remaining on UFC 267 and he will still be fighting for UFC gold.

Yan was supposed to rematch Aljamain Sterling in a highly-anticipated fight, however, on Saturday it was revealed the champ was out of the fight due to lingering issues with his neck. To no surprise, the Russian blasted Sterling for pulling out of the fight.

“Greetings to everyone! You all know what’s just happened to my fight. You all know that Aljo just ran away like a sneaky coward. Here is what I would like to say. I am not going to sit and wait for him,” Yan said about Sterling in a video. “I am going to fight on October 30 in Abu Dhabi, and I would like to address the UFC. UFC, give me any fighter. Top five, top seven, top 10, anyone who deserves to fight for the belt, and I will get the job done. I’ll show you who here is really champ. Thank you for all your support, my friends. See you in Abu Dhabi.”

As Yan said, the goal was to keep him on the card and that is the case as according to ESPN, Petr Yan will fight Cory Sandhagen for the interim bantamweight title.

Petr Yan (15-2) is coming off a DQ loss to Aljamain Sterling to lose his bantamweight title back in March at UFC 259. He was winning the fight but he threw an illegal knee and Sterling could not continue. Prior to that. he scored a fifth-round TKO over Jose Aldo at UFC 251 to win the vacant title. The Russian is 7-1 inside the UFC and also holds notable wins over Urijah Faber, Jimmie Rivera, and John Dodson.

Cory Sandhagen (14-3) lost a controversial split decision to TJ Dillashaw last time out after scoring back-to-back highlight-reel KO wins over Frankie Edgar and Marlon Moraes. Sandhagen lost his first inside the Octagon to Sterling as he was submitted in 88 seconds at UFC 250. He also holds notable wins over Raphael Assuncao, John Lineker, and Mario Bautista in the UFC.

Who do you think will win, Petr Yan or Cory Sandhagen?