Umar Nurmagomedov Vows Return After 2nd-Round KO Loss to Song Yadong

Q: Will Song Yadong's historic knockout finally earn him the chance to become China's first male UFC champion?

Yes—Song Yadong’s knockout of Umar Nurmagomedov very likely earns him either a bantamweight title shot or a clear No. 1 contender fight. The case is strong on merit. Song, ranked No. 6 entering UFC Shanghai, stopped the No. 3 contender with a clean second-round knockout, handing Nurmagomedov the first knockout loss of his career. It was not just an upset; it was the biggest win of Song’s UFC run and came in a main event in front of a sold-out home crowd. He is now 24-9-1 with 13 UFC wins and has won three of his past four, with the only loss in that stretch a narrow decision to Sean O’Malley. That result reshuffles the bantamweight picture. Nurmagomedov had been viewed as one of the division’s leading contenders after wins over Deiveson Figueiredo and Mario Bautista. By beating him decisively, Song moved himself above several rivals who lacked a win of that caliber. He also immediately called for the title shot and reiterated his goal of becoming China’s first male UFC champion, following Zhang Weili’s success on the women’s side. The only caution is timing and UFC matchmaking. With the bantamweight title picture involving Petr Yan and Merab Dvalishvili around the top of the division, the UFC could still choose to make Song fight one more eliminator. But after a historic knockout over Nurmagomedov, Song has done enough to justify being next—or at worst, one fight away.

3 articles · Updated · MMA Fighting · Aug 29

Umar Nurmagomedov said he is fine and will “work on the mistakes” after Song Yadong stopped him in the second round of Saturday’s UFC Shanghai main event.
The defeat was the first knockout loss of Nurmagomedov’s career and only his second professional loss, dropping the bantamweight contender to 20-2.
Song’s win upended the division’s pecking order, taking the contender momentum Nurmagomedov had rebuilt with victories over Deiveson Figueiredo and Mario Bautista.
That rebound had followed a decision loss to Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 311, and a win in Shanghai could have put Nurmagomedov in line for the Petr Yan-Dvalishvili trilogy winner at UFC 333 on Oct. 24.