Umar Nurmagomedov vs Song Yadong: No. 1 Contender Fight? | UFC Shanghai Preview

And so obviously Obviously this main event is important for the band and weight division between Umar and Song, not only because it's number three versus number six, but because it will be happening less than two months out from when the championship in this division will be getting defended for the first time this year when Pewterjan and Murabdawalishvili will have their trilogy match at UFC 333 on October 24th in Abu Dhabi.

So the result of this matchup is going to be very fresh of mind by the time that that trilogy match rolls around.

And the winner will absolutely be in talks to be the number one contender in this division, not to mention both of them have history with the other two names in that championship match.

For Umar, his only loss ever in the UFC and in his career came against Marab Diwalishvili when he challenged him for the title back at UFC 311 in January where they would give the full 25 minutes and Umar would give Marab the toughest test to date during his win streak up until losing to Jan. but ultimately would fall short and Marab would carry on his insane 2025 run.

And for Song Yedong, he has history with the now champion, Peter Yan, as he lost to him back at UFC 299 in March of 2024.

But if he wins here against Umar, he will have won three out of four since then and can be right there knocking on the door for a rematch, assuming, of course, that Yan remains the champion.

And then obviously with both of them having history, they both have fresh matchups as well because Umar Namaga Madov has yet to face Pewter Yan, which would be an insanely high-level mixed martial arts contest, and Song Yedong has yet to face Murad Diwalishvili, which is an extremely intriguing bout in itself.

For Umar, he is now 30 years old, right now in the midst of his prime with a 20-1 record overall.

And since his title fight loss to Merab, he has fought twice, both of them being victories.

A decision win over Mario Bautista that came last October, and then a decision win this year in January against Davidson Figueredo, the former great down at flyweight.

And of course, we can't forget that he also has a victory over another former title challenger in Corey Sanhagen.

That is what would earn him the crack at Murab's throne.

And a win and finish that seems to be aging like a fine wine on Umar's resume is actually against Heoni Barcelos when he finished him with a body kick back in January of 2023 because now he's main eventing at the end of September against Harold Rosas Jr.

And he is currently on a five fight win streak and in the top 15, even though he's pushing 40.

It's obvious how elite Umar Namagomedov is.

We aren't naive to the fact that he is with the Team Habib camp, with Islam Magachev and his brother Usman, who is probably going to make his debut in the UFC, and fingers crossed, before the end of 2026.

He has all the tools to become a champion in this Bantamweight division.

He is well-versed, he is well-rounded, and he can get the job done in all facets of MMA because he obviously has the grappling and wrestling to fall back on, but like his brother Usman, is very precise and technical when it comes to the stand-up ring.

and so no matter who Umar gets paired up with it always feels as though he will be the betting odds-on favorite to win and that is no different here in this matchup with Song Yedong as he is currently listed as a minus 500 favorite but the kung fu kid Song Yedong in his home territory of China fighting in front of his home crowd is going to be extremely Extremely motivated to pull off the upset, obviously because he's in the main event, he's on the marquee, he's on the poster, but because with the win here against Umar Damayga-Madoff, he might finally get his crack at gold that he has been waiting for for years, even though he is still only 28 years of age.

Because we can't forget that he made his UFC debut way back in November of 2017, nearly nine years ago, when he was one week away from turning 20.

And so while on paper Umar Nurmagomedov is the much more high-level mixed martial artist when it comes to complete skill sets, his resume doesn't even sniff what Song Yedong has faced over the past near decade.

With fights against Marlon Vera, Kyler Phillips, Marlon Marais, Corey Sanhagen, Ricky Simone, Chris Gutierrez, Pewter Jan, Henry Cejudo, Sean O'Malley, and Davidson Figueiredo, he has fought the who's who of Bantamweight.

And so with a win here and an upset at that against a big name and high profile opponent such as Umar, it would be hard to deny Song Yedong of his first ever title opportunity.

However, it is worth mentioning that aforementioned name of Sean O'Malley, who is a former champion, and much like Umar Nurmagomedov, has won back-to-back fights since losing to Murad Diwalishvili in a title fight.

And that first one, of course, was against Song Yedong, so he has a big upper hand and advantage here, obviously, if Yedong can come out the victor on Saturday against Umar.