Bantamweights Umar Nurmagomedov and Song Yadong are set to headline the upcoming UFC Shanghai card scheduled for Aug. 29 in China.
Multiple people with knowledge of the promotion’s plans confirmed the news to MMA Fighting on Thursday as the UFC returns to Shanghai for the second consecutive year.
Red Fury MMA first reported the news on Instagram.
The main event comes together after Nurmagomedov was originally scheduled to fight at the UFC Abu Dhabi card scheduled in July, but his opponent David Martinez
was forced out with an injury. The UFC sought a replacement, but ultimately decided to pull Nurmagomedov and match him up against Song instead with the fight now headlining the card in Shanghai.
Overall, Nurmagomedov holds a 20-1 record with his only loss coming via decision to former bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili.
As for Song, he gets a chance to take a step up the division after recently submitting former UFC flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo at UFC Macau in May. Song has gone 2-2 in his past four fights with wins over Figueiredo and Henry Cejudo, and losses to Sean O’Malley and Petr Yan.
The matchup between Nurmagomedov and Song puts the winner in a great position to potentially challenge for the bantamweight title in the near future.
With the main event set for UFC Shanghai, the promotion is expected to announce more fights in the coming weeks.
