UFC Predictions: UFC 267: Jan Blachowicz vs. Glover Teixeira

#2. Interim UFC bantamweight title: Petr Yan vs. Cory Sandhagen

Can Cory Sandhagen find a way to deal with Petr Yan's brutal combinations?

It’s probably fair to say that this UFC title fight hasn’t come without its fair share of controversy.

Sure, the UFC may well be justified in creating an interim bantamweight title given that current champ Aljamain Sterling is on the shelf following neck surgery. But giving Cory Sandhagen a title shot is a little odd.

That’s because ‘The Sandman’ lost his last fight to former UFC bantamweight kingpin T.J. Dillashaw, even though many fans felt he deserved the nod. It's true that Dillashaw is currently out with a knee injury, while another potential contender in Rob Font wasn't able to compete so soon after recovering from COVID-19. With that in mind, options were certainly limited for the promotion.

However, ignoring that, this is a genuinely fantastic bout. Both Sandhagen and Petr Yan are among the best strikers in the 135-pound division. It should be fascinating to see how they look to deal with each other here.

Yan’s biggest strengths are his ability to chain together brutal power-striking combinations, his ability to take shots and his takedown defense.

Every fighter he’s faced, from Sterling to Jose Aldo and Urijah Faber, has struggled to get a handle on his striking style. The fact that he doesn’t tend to slow down as a fight goes longer works in his favour too. Basically, he’s a terminator inside the octagon.

However, Sandhangen is an excellent striker in his own right. He’ll hold a three-inch reach advantage over ‘No Mercy’ in this clash. He is more than capable of keeping an opponent at the end of his longer range strikes, particularly by using his kicks.

‘The Sandman’ is also adept at using low-percentage strikes to put his opponents to sleep, as we saw with his knockouts of Marlon Moraes (spinning back kick) and Frankie Edgar (flying knee).

In fact, the only fighters to have had any success against him at all were Sterling and Dillashaw. Both men used their strong wrestling to find that success.

Does that mean we should expect something special from Sandhagen here? Perhaps. The problem he’s likely to run into, though, is the fact that Yan will probably still be able to walk him down. If Sandhagen does land something big, he may well be able to take it.

This will be a thriller of a fight, but in the end, expect ‘No Mercy’ to come out on the right end of a tight decision.

The Pick: Yan via unanimous decision