After close to nine years in the UFC, and several ups and downs,
Yadong
Song earned the biggest win of his career tonight in front of
an arena full of supporters at
UFC Fight Night 286 in Shanghai, China. The Chinese superstar
viciously knocked out heavy favorite Umar
Nurmagomedov in the second round of their bantamweight
headliner, which brought the elated crowd to its feet and capped
off an excellent night of fights.
Song (24-9-1, 1 NC; 13-4-1 UFC) caught a kick and snapped
Nurmagomedov's (20-2, 8-2 UFC) head back with a counter right cross
in the first round. Nurmagomedov took Song down and escaped from a
guillotine choke. He stayed on top until he tried to transition to
Song's back, which allowed Song to stand up and the fight stayed on
the feet until the bell. Song stuffed a takedown attempt in the
second round and a clash of heads followed during a punching
exchange, which opened a big gash just above Song's right eye. When
Nurmagomedov ducked his head in search of a takedown, Song landed
a shovel uppercut to the side of his neck. The punch rendered
Nurmagomedov unconscious immediately, and an elated Song left the
cage to celebrate with the crowd. The official time of Song's
stunning knockout victory came at the 1:48 mark of Round 2.
This victory is a huge one for Song, who dropped a contentious
decision to former UFC bantamweight champion Sean
O’Malley in January. He is likely still at least one or two
wins away from achieving a title shot, but stopping Nurmagomedov in
such emphatic fashion certainly sends a message to the rest of the
division.
Brazilian rising star Denise
Gomes (13-3, 7-2 UFC) extended her winning streak to five by
brutally knocking out former UFC women's strawweight title
challenger Xiaonan Yan
(19-6, 1 NC; 9-5 UFC) in the co-main event. The fight became a
slugfest early on as both women landed hard punches during an
exchange, and Yan hurt her foot throwing a leg kick. Gomes cracked
her with an overhand right and she landed more right hands as the
round progressed and Yan kept her left hand low. Yan did have some
brief moments of success when she rushed at Gomes with punching
flurries, but Gomes had an answer for that late in the round. As
Yan stepped forward, Gomes landed
a picture-perfect counter elbow to Yan's jaw that dropped her.
Gomes immediately followed up with punches that knocked Yan out,
and the fight was stopped at the 4:49 mark of Round 1.
Following defeats in his first two UFC outings, former Rizin
champion Kai Asakura
(23-6, 2-2 UFC) picked up his second stoppage victory of the year
by defeating Chinese veteran Qileng Aori
(26-14, 1 NC; 4-6, 1 NC UFC) early in the second round at
bantamweight. After two minutes of circling, Asakura landed lead
left hooks to Aori's body and Aori replied with a nice combination
of power punches. Aori was poked in his left eye, but he recovered
and fought on after a timeout. Asakura scored with two right hooks
late in the opening frame. Soon after the second round began,
Asakura rocked Aori with
a left head kick and then knocked him down with punches. Aori
covered up on the ground as Asakura landed knees to his body and
more punches, and the bout was stopped at the 34-second mark of
Round 2. Asakura is now 2-0 in the UFC since moving back up to 135
pounds.
In a rematch from the pair's first fight in May, which ended in a
no contest, Su Mudaerji
(20-7, 1 NC; 7-4, 1 NC UFC) edged out Alex Perez
(26-11, 1 NC; 8-7, 1 NC UFC) to settle the score at flyweight.
Mudaerji landed kicks to Perez's lead leg and Perez responded by
charging at him with punches on two occasions. Mudaerji stuck to a
kick-focused strategy until Perez backed him up to the cage and
took him down. Perez did nothing with the position, however, and
Mudaerji elbowed him in the head from the bottom. The fighters
traded kicks until Perez took Mudaerji down in the second round.
Mudaerji scrambled up to his feet, but he did eat some uppercuts
from Perez on the way. Perez tripped Mudaerji again and kept him
pinned down on the mat for the final two minutes. Mudaerji jabbed
and threw a flying knee in the final round. Perez caught the knee,
but he could not take Mudaerji down. Mudaerji elbowed the side of
Perez's head and briefly held back control himself. The bout went
to the scorecards and Mudaerji prevailed via unanimous decision
with scores of 29-28 across the board.
Decorated striker Ce Liu (4-1, 1-0
UFC) made a statement in his UFC debut by demolishing Levi
Rodrigues (5-2, 1 NC; 0-2 UFC) in the first round of their
light heavyweight matchup. Rodrigues countered early punches from
Liu with one-two combos and his striking seemed to surprise the K-1
veteran. Rodrigues continued to throw punches as Liu attacked his
lead leg with kicks and then dropped him with a right hook. A
wobbly Rodrigues got back to his feet and Liu backed him up with
punches and knees. Rodrigues ducked his head and fired off overhand
punches, and two of them staggered Liu. Rodrigues tried to follow
up, but Liu
landed a massive right hook that dropped Rodrigues face-first
to the mat and ended the action-packed clash at the 4:26 mark of
Round 1.
Former Cage Fury FC champion Bilal Hasan
(10-0, 1 NC; 1-0 UFC) earned his second victory in 18 days by
flattening the previously unbeaten Nilson
Rojas (9-1, 0-1 UFC) in a very entertaining flyweight contest
that opened tonight's main card. Hasan started very quickly with
kicks to Rojas' legs and head, and he stunned him with a right
hook. Rojas recovered and Hasan attacked his body with kicks and
knees before taking Rojas down. Hasan postured up with punches as
blood poured out of Rojas' nose, and Hasan swiftly took his back.
The fight returned to the feet, where Hasan landed more kicks, but
Rojas did knock him off-balance with an overhand right and then
landed a hard elbow in a clinch. Rojas knocked Hasan down with a
front kick to the neck in the second round. Hasan rose to his feet
and resumed kicking, but Rojas pressed forward and landed more
punches as his confidence seemed to grow. Hasan ended that in an
instant by landing
a nasty right cross that sent Rojas careening to the canvas and
ended the fight. The official time of Hasan's knockout victory came
at the 2:28 mark of Round 2.
Though he was unable to make weight, Andre Lima
(12-1, 5-1 UFC) otherwise exceled in his third-round submission
victory over Road to UFC Season 4 flyweight winner Namsrai
Batbayar (10-2, 0-1 UFC) in tonight's featured prelim bout.
Lima attacked Batbayar's lead leg with calf kicks until time was
called when Lima was kicked in the groin. After the restart, Lima
threw a head kick and then landed a big overhand right. He began
kicking the right leg of Batbayar, who had already switched stances
to mitigate the damage on his left leg. Lima continued to attack
the leg in the second round, but Batbayar connected with winging
left and right hooks. Lima adjusted his strategy and began using
jabs to set up leg kicks in an effort to slow Batbayar down. In the
final minute of the round, Lima landed four liver kicks. Batbayar
was unsuccessful with a takedown attempt in the final round and
Lima scored with leg and body kicks. He eventually
pulled guard with a tight guillotine choke and rolled into a
mounted guillotine. Batbayar held on for a few seconds before
reluctantly tapping out at the 3:03 mark of Round 3.
RTU Season 2 flyweight winner Rei Tsuruya
(12-1, 3-1 UFC) easily won his bout tonight against an overmatched
Kevin
Borjas (11-6, 2-5 UFC). Tsuruya took Borjas down against the
cage and he postured up with punches as Borjas tried unsuccessfully
to kick him off. Tsuruya trapped Borjas' legs with his own as he
continued to punch, then took Borjas' back and locked in
a rear-naked choke for the tapout win at the 4:14 mark of Round
1. The highly-touted Tsuruya has now won back-to-back fights since
his lone career defeat against current UFC champ Joshua Van
in March 2025.
Sean
Woodson (14-2-1, 8-2-1 UFC) returned from a lengthy layoff and
outworked Jack
Jenkins (14-5, 4-3 UFC) in a competitive featherweight contest.
The lanky Woodson opened the action with leg kicks and he backed
Jenkins up with a hard jab to the nose. Jenkins lunged forward with
lead left hooks and Woodson resumed throwing leg kicks and one-two
combos. He dropped Jenkins with a counter right cross in the final
minute. Woodson swept out Jenkins' leg with a kick in the second
round, which allowed Woodson to take top position in side control.
Jenkins secured a sweep and then took Woodson's back. As Jenkins
attempted rear-naked chokes, Woodson was surprisingly effective by
blindly punching behind his own head, and almost all of Woodson's
punches landed to the nose of Jenkins. Woodson escaped to his feet
late in the round. He kept Jenkins at range with jabs and front
kicks to the body in the third round. Hard left hooks were
exchanged and Jenkins worked for takedowns against the cage after
landing a combination. One judge scored the fight 29-28 for
Jenkins, while the other two both saw it 29-28 for Woodson, who
took the hard-fought split decision victory.
Coming off of a disappointing no contest in his final pre-UFC bout
in April, Italy's Francesco
Nuzzi (12-2, 2 NC; 1-0 UFC) needed just 60 seconds to secure
his first UFC victory tonight against RTU Season 2 finalist
Long
Xiao (27-12, 1-3 UFC). Xiao charged at Nuzzi and landed a
flying knee to the body to begin the fight. Xiao was poked in his
right eye, and needed a minute to recover, but the fight continued
on. Seconds after the restart, Nuzzi hurt Xiao with a left hook to
the temple. Xiao fell forward and Nuzzi
unloaded with left hooks and uppercuts until referee Herb Dean waved
off the fight at the 1:00 mark.
Bantamweight newcomer Hector
Santiago (7-1, 1-0 UFC) impressed in his second-round knockout
victory over RTU Season 4 winner Lawrence
Lui (8-2, 0-1 UFC), who struggled in his official UFC debut.
Santiago jabbed effectively in the opening minute, and he used
those jabs to set up combinations to Lui's head and body. Lui
repeatedly covered his face with his hands, which further opened
him up to Santiago's body shots. Lui finally landed a solid right
hand, but Santiago continued to press forward with flurries of
punches. Lui's right eye was already swelling as the second round
began, but he did connect with a nice right hook. That success was
fleeting, however, as Santiago wobbled Lui with an overhand right
and dropped him with more punches. As Lui clung to consciousness on
the ground, Santiago
shut his lights off with additional punches that left Lui
face-down on the mat and finished the fight at the 53-second mark
of the second round.
A would-be strawweight bout between Julia
Polastri (15-6, 3-3 UFC) and former ONE Championship
titleholder Jingnan
Xiong (19-4, 0-2 UFC), who both missed weight, ended with a
vicious knockout victory for Polastri in the opening round. Xiong
darted in and out with right hands while Polastri held her ground
and backed Xiong up with a one-two combo. Xiong marched forward
again and Polastri landed two solid knees in a clinch. Soon after,
Polastri finished a combination
with a crushing head kick that sent an unconscious Xiong
crashing to the mat and ended the fight at the 3:06 mark of Round
1.
The card opened with a welterweight contest between UFC newcomer
Cameron
Nelson (8-1, 1-0 UFC) and Meng Ding
(35-11, 0-2 UFC). Early on, Ding landed a pair of straight left
hands and fared well during the first half of the opening round.
Nelson closed the distance and took his foe down against the cage,
and he punched from Ding's half-guard until the bell. Ding jabbed
in the second round and landed a right hand, which Nelson promptly
countered by taking him down. He prevented Ding from kicking off of
the cage and standing up, and once again landed punches from Ding's
half-guard. Ding was much more successful at defending against
Nelson's takedown attempts in the final round. He kneed Nelson's
body and Nelson slowed down with each failed takedown. In the final
minute, Nelson tripped Ding and closed out the fight on top in side
control. All three judges scored the bout 29-28 in favor of Nelson,
who prevailed in his Octagon debut.
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