Cory Sandhagen set to fight Petr Yan for an interim bantamweight title at UFC 267

Petr Yan (left), Cory Sandhagen (right) [Images courtesy: @enterthesandman135 @petr_yan on Instagram]

An interim UFC bantamweight title fight has been announced for UFC 267. Former champion Petr Yan is set to take on top contender Cory Sandhagen.

Yan was initially scheduled to rematch current champion Aljamain Sterling. However, he was forced to drop out after failing to receive medical clearance. The champ recently revealed he's yet to fully recover from the neck surgery he underwent earlier this year. Sterling and Yan's previous fight ended in the challenger's favor after the Russian was disqualified for landing an illegal knee.

Cory Sandhagen is another of Sterling's former foes. 'The Sandman' lost to the champ via a first-round submission. Yan and Sandhagen will now compete against each other for a chance to rematch Sterling in what will be a unification bout. News of the new matchup was first reported by ESPN MMA, who posted the following on Twitter:

"UFC is moving forward with an interim bantamweight title fight between Petr Yan and Cory Sandhagen at UFC 267 on Oct. 30, Dana White told @bokamotoESPN. Reigning champion Aljamain Sterling was scheduled to defend his title against Yan, but failed to receive medical clearance."

UFC is moving forward with an interim bantamweight title fight between Petr Yan and Cory Sandhagen at UFC 267 on Oct. 30, Dana White told @bokamotoESPN.

Reigning champion Aljamain Sterling was scheduled to defend his title against Yan, but failed to receive medical clearance. https://t.co/MDxVv2hN9p

Petr Yan and Cory Sandhagen's previous UFC fights

Petr Yan and Cory Sandhagen are considered two of the best strikers in the UFC to. Yan boasts wins over some truly elite competition, including former featherweight champion Jose Aldo. He's has also defeated Jimmie Rivera, Urijah Faber and John Dodson.

Cory Sandhagen, meanwhile, has some outstanding highlight-reel stoppages against solid opposition in the UFC. His flying knee KO against Frankie Edgar was like something out of a movie and his spinning heel kick TKO against Marlon Moraes was equally impressive.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Cory Sandhagen (@enterthesandman135)

However, both men possess a loss on their records to Aljamain Sterling. Cory Sandhagen was convincingly defeated by Sterling, who rapidly took him down and locked him in a rear-naked choke.

Yan's loss to Sterling was considerably more contentious. 'No Mercy' dominated much of the fight and Sterling appeared to be running low on energy. However, in the fourth round, Yan made the bizarre choice to knee Sterling in the head whilst he was clearly grounded. The move resulted in his disqualification.