Yan Vs. Sandhagen Booked For Interim Title Fight

Petr Yan vs. Cory Sandhagen will determine the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Interim Bantamweight champion at UFC 267, UFC President Dana White confirmed.

Yan vs. Sandhagen serves as the co-main event of UFC 267, taking place on Sat., Oct. 30 inside Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates via ABC. The card is headlined by a UFC Light Heavyweight title fight pitting defending champion Jan Blachowicz vs. Glover Teixeira. The new interim title clash was confirmed by ESPN.

The fight between Yan and Sandhagen was pieced together after doctors did not clear UFC Bantamweight champion Sterling for his planned title defense against Yan. Former UFC Bantamweight king T.J. Dillashaw was next in line according to the UFC’s official rankings; however, he is currently recovering from an injury suffered in his fight against Sandhagen (watch highlights).

Yan (15-2) is coming off a failed UFC title defense against Sterling, in which he lost the title via disqualification after landing an illegal knee strike. Prior to that, Yan had a perfect seven-fight run in the promotion with knockouts (KOs) of Jose Aldo (watch here) and Urijah Faber (watch), plus unanimous decision wins against Jimmie Rivera and John Dodson.

Sandhagen (14-3) lost a competitive split decision to Dillashaw in July. He scored highlight-reel KOs of Frankie Edgar (watch here) and Marlon Moraes (watch) prior to that. Other notable wins include Raphael Assuncao and John Lineker.

Other notable fights on the card include Li Jingliang vs. Khamzat Chimaev, Magomed Ankalaev vs. Volkan Oezdemir, Alexander Volkov vs. Marcin Tybura, and Amanda Ribas vs. Virna Jandiroba.

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