In a somewhat confusing move, the UFC has announced that Cory Sandhagen will fight Petr Yan instead of Aljamain Sterling for an interim bantamweight title. Sterling vs Yan 2 was set to be a title fight, where Yan would have the opportunity to reclaim his belt.
However, Sterling’s ongoing injury issues forced him to pull out of the fight, offering Cory Sandhagen the opportunity he’s been waiting for.
Why The UFC Booked an Interim Bantamweight Title Fight
UFC president Dana White told reporters following the most recent episode of the Contender series that it was the right move for the division.
“We had to do the interim title. If you look at how that fight [Sterling vs Yan 1] ended, Yan is ready to go, Sterling doesn’t know when he going to be ready, doesn’t know when his leg is going to be healed, doesn’t know when he’s going to get the doctors’ clearance, so an interim title makes sense.”
Premature interim titles are all the rage in the UFC these days, with another controversial interim belt at the other end of the weight spectrum grabbing headlines a few weeks back.
Francis Ngannou had yet to defend his heavyweight title when the interim bout, between Derrick Lewis and relative newcomer Ciryl Gane, was announced. Sterling has yet to defend his title, just like Francis Ngannou.
However, unlike Francis Ngannou, Aljamain Sterling’s bantamweight strap is thoroughly controversial. He was awarded the belt thanks to a DQ win over Petr Yan, who landed an illegal knee on Sterling while the challenger was grounded.
As a result, Petr Yan, who was reigning champion with next to no serious competition at bantamweight, lost the belt, and a dazed and confused Sterling had his hand raised.
Since then, Yan and Sterling have traded barbs on social media, with Yan in particular calling Sterling out for faking his symptoms after the knee was landed.
According to the unified rules of MMA, landing a leg strike to the head of a grounded opponent is illegal regardless of their reaction, so it’s likely that even if Sterling had continued fighting Yan would have been disqualified.
Cory Sandhagen, on the other hand, will be thrilled with this announcement. His most recent fight was a controversial decision loss to a returning TJ Dillashaw. Sandhagen himself believed that he won the Dillashaw fight. Placing two fighters fresh off the back of losses might seem like the worst matchup possible for a title fight, but the circumstances surrounding each loss make this an obvious choice for the division.
With Dillashaw out of action for the foreseeable future thanks to an injury sustained against Sandhagen, and Sterling still recovering from a long-term injury of his own, this fight is the best way to move the division forward.
Who do you see winning the Yan vs Sandhagen interim title fight? Let us know in the comments.
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