Following the toughest stretch in his professional career, Cory Sandhagen finds himself only a victory away from his first UFC title run.
In a bout to determine the interim bantamweight champion, Sandhagen (14–3) steps into the Octagon on Saturday at UFC 267 against Petr Yan. Despite splitting his last four fights, and coming off a loss to TJ Dillashaw three months ago, just Yan (15–2) stands between Sandhagen and the title.
But it will not be an easy task. Yan appeared poised to defeat Aljamain Sterling at UFC 259 in March, but was disqualified late in the fourth round after he walloped Sterling with an intentional illegal knee strike.