Aljamain Sterling was supposed to be defending his newly won UFC bantamweight title against Petr Yan at UFC 267. The bout was set to be a rematch after the pair fought back at UFC 259.

ESPN first reported that Aljamain Sterling was forced to pull out from the bout as he was not medically cleared. The issue stems from a lingering neck injury from which Sterling had surgery earlier this year.

The UFC has not made an announcement on what's next but there has been talk of an interim UFC bantamweight title fight. Petr Yan would be involved but it's not clear who he would be fighting against.

There have been talks of Corey Sandhagen stepping in. He recently fought TJ Dillashaw back in July, losing by split decision.

He was present at the fights during UFC 266 which could have been an interesting coincidence. Many would disagree with him stepping in as he lost his last fight.

TJ Dillashaw has also been an option as he seems to be the number one contender outside of Yan. He recently came back from a two-year USADA suspension.

Aljamain Sterling received a lot of heat on social media from fighters and fans and has been called out multiple times by Yan. He has been dealing with neck issues for a long time.

His title win drew a lot of controversies as he won it by DQ after Yan hit him with an illegal knee. Since then he has had to deal with a lot of hate online as some feel he exaggerated in the fight in order to win the belt.

We are still waiting for an official announcement from the UFC on what's next for UFC 267 and what direction they will choose to go with. They can either rebook the title fight for a different date or go with the interim title until Aljamain Sterling is cleared to fight.