Georgi Karakhanyan vs. Emmanuel Sanchez Set for Bellator 170 in Los Angeles

Georgi Karakhanyan will square off against Emmanuel Sanchez in a featherweight duel at Bellator 170.

Promotion officials announced the pairing on Thursday. Bellator 170 takes place at the Forum in Los Angeles on Jan. 21 and is headlined by a light heavyweight showdown between Tito Ortiz and Chael Sonnen. The evening’s main card, which includes Karakhanyan vs. Sanchez, airs on Spike TV at 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT.

Karakhanyan enters the matchup on the strength of back-to-back KO/TKO triumphs over Kirill Medvedovsky and Bubba Jenkins. The ex-World Series of Fighting and Tachi Palace champion is 5-4 over the course of two Bellator MMA tenures.

Sanchez, meanwhile, had a three-bout winning streak snapped at Bellator 159, where he dropped a split verdict to former 145-pound title challenger Daniel Weichel. The 26-year-old Roufusport representative is 5-2 with the California-based promotion, with notable wins over UFC vets Daniel Pineda and Justin Lawrence.