MMA

UFC Shanghai predictions

Published

2 months ago

August 28, 2026

Umar Nurmagomedov has a dangerous test ahead of him as he faces an opponent playing with house money.

For a second fight in a row, Song Yadong fights in his native China, headlining UFC Shanghai opposite Nurmagomedov in a pivotal bantamweight contenders' bout. Nurmagomedov has long been touted as a future champion and he's back to his winning ways following a disappointing title fight loss to Merab Dvalishvili, but has he done enough to whet the appetite of the fans and matchmakers?

Nurmagomedov has to not only win Saturday, he has to deliver a highlight or two to snatch back that No. 1 contender spot. On the other side, Song gets another chance to shatter the notion that he can't defeat an elite bantamweight in their prime.

Also on the main card, Yan Xiaonan and Denise Gomes meet in a strawweight co-main event with legitimate contender stakes, Aoriqileng faces knockout artist Kai Asakura, Alex Perez and Sumudaerji run it back, K-1 kickboxing champion Liu Ce makes his UFC debut, and red hot Contender Series prospect Bilal Hassan fights for the second time in less than three weeks.

Where: Oriental Sports Center in Shanghai, China

When: Saturday, Aug. 29. The seven-fight early preliminary card begins at 3 a.m. ET, followed by a six-fight main card at 6 a.m. ET. The entire event streams live on Paramount+.

(Numbers in parentheses indicate standing in the MMA Fighting Global Rankings and Pound-for-Pound Rankings)

Umar Nurmagomedov (3) vs. Song Yadong (7)

On paper, Umar Nurmagomedov has Song Yadong beat in a number of categories. Stronger wrestler, stronger ground game, and I actually think he's better on the feet even though Song is better known for getting into exciting striking battles. Nurmagomedov is a complete fighter, but can't afford a slip-up against Song.

Song has beaten some big names in his day, like Henry Cejudo, Marlon Moraes, and Marlon Vera, and it feels like he's been on the cusp of greatness for several years. When he gets cooking with the standup, few bantamweights would dare to stand and trade with him. However, against the best of the best, Song has often looked a step behind, and that's the version of Song I expect to see against Nurmagomedov on Saturday.

Nurmagomedov is simply too good at imposing his will with his wrestling or switching to secondary disciplines when the situation calls for it. It's true, Nurmagomedov needs to make a statement to give his contender case some juice, and I expect him to deliver exactly what people are looking for. He wears Song down, takes him down the third, and pounds him out for the KO.

Yan Xiaonan (4, P4P-18) vs. Denise Gomes (13)

Would it surprise you to know that Denise Gomes is tied for the longest win streak (4) in the UFC's strawweight division with champion Mackenzie Dern and blue-chipper Fatima Kline? Yes? No? Well, I thought it was interesting.

Gomes is potentially one impressive performance away from a title shot and the matchmakers are giving her the opportunity by pairing her up with one-time championship challenger Yan Xiaonan. This should primarily be a striking affair, with Gomes looking to lumber forward and imposer her power game on Yan, while Yan will rely more on her high-level technique to stifle Gomes.

I tend to harp on age a lot when making picks and I'm doing so again here. Gomes is a decade younger than Yan, so the strength and athleticism gap should be even more pronounced. On the other hand, Yan has a significant experience advantage and has exclusively tested herself against ranked competition for years. It's a close call.

Yan could have one last title run in her, but I'm expecting a passing of the torch here with Gomes out-slugging Yan to shock the Shanghai crowd.

Aoriqileng vs. Kai Asakura

I am loving me some bantamweight Kai Asakura!

The former RIZIN star had a spectacular return to 135 pounds against Cameron Smotherman and I'm expecting more of the same against Aoriqileng. â€œThe Mongolian Murdererâ€ is no walk-over, but he's not the most defensively sound fighter either, and I expect Asakura to score in this matchup early and often. Of course, if he wades in carelessly, Aoriqileng will make him pay.

For the most part, though, Asakura will beat Aoriqileng to the punch again and again, until he lands a shot that Aoriqileng can't recover from.

Alex Perez vs. Sumudaerji 2

Here's a portion of what I wrote about this matchup when Alex Perez and Sumudaerji first squared off three months ago:

Sumudaerji has tantalizing physical gifts, almost Stefan Struve-esque in his potential to mix size and skill. He has a reach advantage over almost everyone in the division and when he can utilize it properly, he looks like a world beater. And yet he hasn't actually beaten anyone close to being considered a top-tier flyweight. It's frustrating.

Alex Perez, on the other hand, has maximized his abilities to the fullest. Perhaps pushing himself to the highest level is why his career has been so riddled with injury, but when he hangs up the gloves someday, I think most will agree he did everything he could short of winning a UFC title. He's defeated some solid names with his classic mixture of wrestling and fast hands.

My read was that Perez's experience and wrestling gave him the edge and I still feel that way, though Sumudaerji proved he knows his way around a sprawl while also mixing in some offensive grappling of his own. He also showed he could hurt Perez, scoring the lone knockout of the fight before it ended in unceremonious fashion when Sumudaerji clipped Perez with a kick below the belt. Perez puked into a bucket, the fight was ruled a no-contest, and now here we are again.

Perez landed his fair share of punches against the taller Sumudaerji before things went haywire, and his ability to mix things up is the difference in this matchup. He also knows he has to show Sumudaerji plenty of respect and as long as he avoids getting caught again, he wins a decision.

Liu Ce vs. Levi Rodrigues Jr.

Liu Ce is a K-1 kickboxing champion who presumably wants nothing to do with the ground game in his UFC debut. Levi Rodrigues Jr., come on down!

This isn't necessarily a layup for Liu, with Rodrigues showing flashes of the crisp striking that have made him an intriguing addition to the light heavyweight roster. Rodrigues does a good job of putting pressure on his opponents, something that has given Liu trouble in the past. On the flip-side, Liu hits hard and loves leg kicks, so Rodrigues is in danger of getting chopped down before he even has the chance to get in range to put hands on Liu.

I can see this going either way, with the only thing for sure being that this one won't go to the scorecards. Liu's length and overall combat sports experience advantage should get him the knockout.

Bilal Hasan vs. Nilson Rojas

If Bilal Hasan comes out fighting like this guy, people are going to lose it:

If you saw Hasan's contract-winning performance on Dana White's Contender Series, you know the self-professed Michael Jackson enthusiast is a smooth criminal inside the cage, and he has a ton of hype heading into his UFC debut proper. Hasan and Nilson Rojas both sport 9-0 records and are far from finished products, but at the moment, Hasan's tape is a bit more flattering.

Light as a feather on his feet, Hasan already has a distinct style, which is comprised of him setting up traps, countering, and driving kicks into his opponents' midsections. Rojas is more measured in his approach, but also does a fantastic job of mixing up his punches with high-low combinations. He wants to get in and make it dirty, Hasan wants to keep the fight at range until it's time to close in.

A true clash of styles and compelling work from the matchmakers here, throwing a pair of promising prospects into the fire. Hasan gets the win on this day, but I expect him and Rojas to have plenty of UFC highlights ahead of them.

Andre Lima def. Namsrai Batbayar

Rei Tsuruya def. Kevin Borjas

Sean Woodson def. Jack Jenkins

Xiao Long def. Francesco Nuzzi

Lawrence Lui def. Hector Santiago

Xiong Jingnan def. Julia Polastri

Ding Meng def. Cam Nelson

MMA

Morning Report | Chael Sonnen: Alexander Volkanovski double retirement fight pitch is ‘one of the dumbest ideas I’ve ever heard’

Published

7 hours ago

October 28, 2026

The Punch Junkie™ News

Morning Report | Chael Sonnen: Alexander Volkanovski double retirement fight pitch is ‘one of the dumbest ideas I’ve ever heard’

Chael Sonnen isn't buying Alexander Volkanovski's sales pitch.

This past weekend, Volkanovski successfully defended his featherweight title with a second-round stoppage of Movsar Evloev in the main event of UFC 333. The win was yet another feather in the cap of one of the greatest fighters of all time, and afterward, Volkanovski quickly began to lobby for an even grander feather: a fight with lightweight champion Justin Gaethje.

Despite the line of contenders at lightweight, Volkanovski suggested that he and Gaethje could do a superfight, with both men retiring afterward so as to not hold up either the 145-pound of 155-pound divisions. But Chael Sonnen thinks that's ridiculous.

â€œHe does not know what we are doing here,â€ Sonnen said on his YouTube channel. â€œVolkanovski just laid out one of the dumbest ideas I've ever heard. â€¦ He's gonna go up, and he's gonna fight Justin Gaethje. He's got no problem with him; they get along. But they're gonna throw their arms around each other and put the gloves down in the middle when this thing is over. Who does that help? Why would anybody book that fight?

â€œIt was just a really weird thing to do. He suggested that he goes to 155 pounds to test himself. I appreciate that, except the fact that you're a â€˜55-pounder that cuts his ass off to not fight at â€˜55. You cut your ass off to not test yourself. You used to weigh 96 kgs [211 pounds]. â€¦

â€œI do challenge the notion that, â€˜I will go to 155 to test myself to fight Gaethje.' That's a cop out. That's a cop out by anybody. I don't mean that it's conscious, but that it's subconscious. If you want to go to 155 and test yourself, drop the strap and go into the division; exactly what Ilia Topuria did. Now, I understand that history is going to tell you that Ilia ended up with a title shot. He was not guaranteed a title shot when he dropped the strap and moved into the division.

â€œYou want to test yourself, do what Max Holloway did: be a â€˜45-pounder that enters â€˜55 with no guarantee. Which means if I lose, I don't get to say I lost to the best guy.'â€

It's unknown right now if the UFC has any interest in accommodating Volkanovski's pitch, though following UFC 333, UFC CEO Dana White did suggest it would be hard to deny â€œThe Greatâ€ many requests. That being said, Volkanovski has already had two shots to become a two-division UFC champion, losing twice to Islam Makhachev. In those instances, Volkanovski did not vacate his featherweight belt, and Sonnen seems to take umbrage with Volkanovski looking to get that same consideration for a third time.

â€œWhen Volk went up, he did not vacate; he did not burn his boats. If he was to burn his boats, he would have dropped the â€˜45-pound belt. â€¦

â€œThere's nothing stopping â€” there's no anchor tied to your ass to do that. You can do that now. Right now. â€¦ Make a public statement, that's all you've got to do to drop a belt. Tell the public you're dropping the belt. It's no different than we put a belt on a guy at a press conference. This really is how it works.

â€œYou want to test yourself? I like the idea. You want Gaethje? It's not the same thing. You want a shot at a world title that you've already had twice. It's not the same thing. You want to test yourself, do what Ilia did: drop the belt, go into the division.â€

Interim. Matt Brown defends Islam Makhachev, rips UFC for introducing another â€˜f*cking interim title.'

Chama. â€˜Go back to Chama': Israel Adesanya questions Alex Pereira for saying he'll return to 205 with UFC 335 loss.

GOAT. Aljamain Sterling explains why he's not ready to call Petr Yan the bantamweight GOAT just yet.

Christmas. Nakisa Bidarian teases Darren Till as possible next opponent for Jake Paul.

Wrestling. Arman Tsarukyan wrestles Anthony Pettis in RAF 15 main event.

The UFC Journey for Moicano vs. Tom Nolan.

DC talks to Sean O'Malley.

Patrick Habirora trains with Georges St-Pierre.

SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE

Movsar got a nice welcome home.

Very obviously no, since he just lost.

I don't think that was real.

Drew Dober is trying hard to break through as a content guy. Some of it is interesting.

TJ on them good vitamins now.

Vadim Nemkov (20-2, 1 NC) vs. Sergei Bilostenniy (15-4); PFL Dubai; Nov. 14

Patrick Habirora (9-0) vs. Omar El Dafrawy (16-6); PFL Dubai; Nov. 14

Pouya Rahmani (6-0) vs. Oleg Popov (23-2); PFL Dubai; Nov. 14

Sergio Pettis (25-8) vs. Joji Goto (21-9-1); PFL Dubai; Nov. 14

Abubakar Nurmagomedov (17-4-1) vs. David Martinez (17-6); PFL Dubai; Nov. 14

Khasan Magomedsharipov (11-0) vs. Adam Borics (20-4); PFL Dubai; Nov. 14

AsaÃ«l Adjoudj (11-1) vs. Movlid Khaybulaev (23-0-1); PFL Dubai; Nov. 14

Ernesto Rodriguez (11-2) vs. Rhys McKee (15-7-1); PFL Dubai; Nov. 14

Shem Rock (12-3-1) vs. Connor Hughes (12-3); PFL Dubai; Nov. 14

Alexei Pergande (8-0) vs. Akhmed Magomedov (11-2); PFL Dubai; Nov. 14

Lewis McGrillen (13-2) vs. Nawras Abzakh (15-6); PFL Dubai; Nov. 14

Khmazat Abaev (6-1) vs. Leon Hill (10-2); PFL Dubai; Nov. 14

Aleksandra Savicheva (8-2) vs. Jacinta Austin (9-2); PFL Dubai; Nov. 14

Khabib Nabiev (12-0) vs. Styve Ngono (8-1); PFL Dubai; Nov. 14

Denis Goltsov (37-9) vs. Maxwell Djantou Nana (9-2); PFL Dubai; Nov. 14

Quillan Salkilld (13-1) vs. Benoit Saint Denis (17-4, 1 NC); UFC Sydney, Feb. 6

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Rec 1ReplyRead 39 replies

I'm sure I'm in the minority, but letting Volkanovski get a third crack at a lightweight title would be absurdly silly when there are many more-deserving contenders waiting. But if you're going to push for it, at least just be honest and say why you really want it: because you love Volk and want him to get a chance at a meaningless second title.

Because that's what this is about. If he beats Gaethje and instantly retires, he won't be the best lightweight on Earth, the same way GSP wasn't the best middleweight. It's just collecting a trinket, at the expense of the careers of other deserving contenders.

Chael is right: if Volk wants another lightweight title shot, go up and beat a top contender. Then no one can possibly complain.

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